Quidditch Exchange
by Gryffindorkkk
Summary: Complete! An international exchange student arrives at Hogwarts and is placed in the care of Oliver Wood and his Quidditch Team. How will she fare at Hogwarts? OWOC and a little FWOC. AU.
1. Chapter 1

It was a cold and rainy day the day that Oliver Wood boarded the Hogwarts Express, ready to start his sixth year at Hogwarts. He whipped the soaking wet light brown that had grown far too long over the summer break, spraying small water droplets over the compartment he had managed to claim. He was eagerly awaiting the arrival of his friends and fellow Quidditch Team members; Fred and George Weasley. He had much to tell them. Professor McGonagall had sent Oliver an Owl during the break to tell him that when he got back there would be a special Quidditch-related task for him.

As the train was about the depart, Oliver heard yelling from the platform. He chuckled and shook his head. It was the Weasleys. Always late. He watched as Percy [his least favourite class mate], Fred then George [or was it George then Fred?], Ron and who he assumed to be Ginny all boarded the train as it began to shuffle slowly off the station.

Oliver sat back and waited for the twins to find his compartment, which took about 10 minutes.

"Alright Oliver?" Fred nodded as he and his brother clambered into the compartment, trunks dragging behind them, "What's this ruckus about McGonagall?"

"Yeah, alright," he answered, before launching into the story of the owl.

After he had finished George sighed, "Well, sounds like she's hiring you for the Slytherin team. Merlin knows they need a better captain."

Fred nodded seriously, "I agree, it's the only possibility. Since you'll be going to the dark side, I volunteer as captain to replace you."

"Like hell," George snorted, "I'd be a better captain than you any day. Just like I'm a better Beater, right Olly?"

Oliver threw his hands up in the air defensively, "I'm not getting into this," he paused, "and don't call me Olly."

Oliver relaxed into his seat, listening to the twins argue over who was the better Quidditch player. He knew this argument would take a while, so he resigned himself to staring out of the window.

Soon, the twins were interrupted by a small knock at the compartment door. Oliver snapped back to reality to see a girl he had never seen standing at the door. He jumped up to open the door for her, seeing as the twins had got themselves into a mini wrestling match.

"Hi, can I help you?" he asked, watching as she shifted nervously under his gaze.

Before she could answer, there was a loud crack, making the two of them jump and Fred and George separate with a jolt. Several students poked their heads out of their respective compartments to see what the noise was.

Professor McGonagall stood behind the girl, looking directly at Wood.

"Good Morning Mr Wood," the professor nodded curtly at Oliver, "For goodness sake Misters Weasley, get off the floor."

Oliver looked behind him to see the twins had fallen on the floor. Composing themselves, the twins greeted McGonagall and sat back on the seat.

"Mr Wood, are we just to stand here or are you going to be a gentleman and let us in?" She asked, looking rather annoyed.

"Sorry Professor," Oliver moved back from the door to let the two ladies in.

Professor McGonagall decided not to sit, "Gentleman, this is Miss Jemima Gorman." she nodded towards the girl that had followed her in, "She will be attending Hogwarts this year as a part of an exchange program set up with Hogwarts and her school, Nimirix." All three boys looked confused, the professor sighed, ""None of you pay attention during History of Magic, do you?" again, blank faces, "Jemima has joined us from _Australia_ and her school will be welcoming Angelina Johnson for the year. Before you panic, Mr Wood, Miss Gorman will be your third Chaser in Miss Johnson's absence." McGonagall huffed, "Now if you will excuse me, I have a castle to prepare for everyone's arrival." with a swish of her coat and another loud crack, the professor was gone.

The three boys observed Jemima, she shifted in the seat she had taken opposite Fred and next to Oliver. Jemima's skin was incredibly pale, her hair dark brown with a red tinge. Oliver couldn't help but stare at her eyes, they were bright blue and mesmerising.

Fred was the first to talk, "I'm Fred," he stuck out his hand to shake Jemima's, "It's nice to meet you Jemima. This is George," Fred added as his brother stuck out his hand.

"Please call me Jem." She said, retracting her hand from the twin's grasp, "Mr Wood?" she asked, blushing.

"Oh," Oliver jumped, he had been focussing on her so hard that he had not heard anything she had said, "O-Oliver." he stuttered, "I'm Oliver."

"Nice to meet you Oliver." she smiled, "I understand you're the captain?" Oliver nodded, still not able to take his eyes off hers, "Cool..."

"Well," George started, "this isn't at all awkward."

"So Jem, tell us about yourself?" Fred added, looking at Oliver with quirked eyebrow.

Jemima launched into a long story about life in Australia and Nimirix. She had three brothers, all older; James, Michael, Robert and Christopher. Both of her parents were Wizards, his father hailing from Hogwarts and his mother a native Australian. She explained that it was a oddity to be a pure-blood witch at Nimirix, seeing as most of the students were Muggle-born or half-bloods. She also explained that Australia had different laws when it came to magic. When a witch or wizard turned 14, they were allowed to apparate and do magic; seeing as England had a different law, she would have to abide by their rules; no magic outside Hogwarts, no apparating.

As she was being bombarded with questions from the Weasley twins, Alicia Spinett and Katie Bell joined the group and welcomed Jem with ease; claiming they were glad Angelina would be replaced my a girl.

The train slowed down as they reached Hogwarts. It was still raining as all six of them disembarked the train. Oliver waved his wand and a gigantic purple umbrella popped out, hovering over Jem's head as she hopped onto the platform. He joined her under it and, both blushing profusely, they made their way off the platform and towards the castle.

Oliver watched her as the Thestral drawn carriages took them all up the winding path to the entrance of the castle.

He smiled as he watched her face light up, "Welcome to Hogwarts."


	2. Chapter 2

Oliver and Jemima walked under the umbrella right to the steps of the castle where Oliver flicked his wand once again making it disappear.

Fred clapped a large hand on Jem's shoulder, making her jump, "Ready for the most amazing food you'll ever eat?"

Jem laughed, "Uh, I think I can handle that." Flanked by the twins and Oliver in toe behind her, all four made their way into the great hall.

Jem gaped at the magnificence of the hall; the long wooden tables and the candles floating in mid-air. She looked over at Oliver, he was smiling at her.

She had to admit, Oliver had a certain something about him; he was tall, muscular – sure he was handsome – but there was something else.

Jem shook her head, _pull it together, you've seen boys before,_ she thought to herself.

"Wait," he said walking closer to her, smiling wider, "It gets better." he grabbed her chin gently and nudged her sight up towards the ceiling, "The greatest part of the Great Hall."

After making herself focus less on the incredibly close proximity of her and Oliver, she saw it. The ceiling was enchanted.

"Oh Merlin," she sighed, "it's beautiful." she couldn't keep her eyes off it, the clouds were parting and the sun was setting.

"Yeah," Oliver whispered, "it is."

They stood in silence for a moment, neither moving but both feeling slightly awkward. George knocked the two of them aside as he went to sit at the table covered in scarlet and gold. Jem blushed as they too walked over to the table. Sitting next to each other was probably not the best idea in hindsight as Oliver spent the whole evening jumping every time her leg accidentally hit his, and vice versa.

When they had all eaten as much roasted meats, vegetables and deserts as they could, they began the journey to Gryffindor Tower. Arriving at the Fat Lady portrait, they were once again greeted by Professor McGonagall.

"Good evening Professor," Jemima greeted.

"Good evening," McGonagall nodded, "I came to welcome you to Gryffindor's common room and show you to your room. Follow me," she turned to the portrait, "Doned Elit."

The Fat Lady nodded and swung her portrait open, allowing them all inside. Jem once again marvelled at the beauty of her new common room; the red couches were lovely and the fires were lit at a lovely 'toasty warm' calibre.

McGonagall sighed impatiently, "Now Miss Gorman," she said turning to Jemima, "There is unfortunately no room in the dormitories for another person, it seems the sorting hat has put one too many first year that expected in our house, so Angelina's bed has been taken by a fifth year." Jem looked confused, "No need for that face Miss Gorman," McGonagall waved her wand and a small six-foot tall and about three-foot deep shabby wooden box, "It looks small, but you'll find it has a rather large inside. There is a bed, bathroom and wardrobe for you. You'll also find your luggage has been moved to the end of your bed."

Jem smiled, "Thanks Professor it looks wonderful."

Professor McGonagall nodded another curt nod and headed towards the portrait to leave. Before exiting, she turned around and added, "Oh, and you'll find it is completely impossible to have any male guests enter your room, just like the female dormitories." she turned and exited the common room, leaving a few stray Gryffindors who had yet to go to bed.

George snickered, muttering something under his breath and flicking his wand, "Ol' McGonagall thinks we haven't learnt ourselves a little something during the holidays?"

Fred grinned along with him as George opened the door to Jem's box-room, the twins linked arms and took a joint step into the threshold. There was a sudden reverberating bang as the twins were thrown backwards, landing on a well-placed couch on the other side of the room. Jem and the few remaining Gryffindors [including Oliver and Ron, the twin's younger brother who'd introduced himself and his two best friends, Harry and Hermione, at dinner] burst into laughter at the sight of the twins, both of whom were currently covered in long ginger hair. The hair was at least 12 inches in length and it covered them from head to toe, reminding Jemina of the muggle television character Cousin It, from the Aadam's Family.

"So maybe you didn't learn as much as you thought you had?" asked Oliver, standing next to Jemima and chuckling, "Go to Madam Pomfrey, I'm sure she'll have a solution." as the twins dejectedly walked towards the door Oliver added, "Take the long way, if McGonagall catches you two looking like that, she'll ban you from Quidditch practice for the month."

As the laughter was settling down, Jemima made her way over to a couch with the most amount of cushions and flopped over it, sighing with content. Oliver followed suit, flopping on the couch opposite, sighing dramatically.

Jem giggled, "That was an awfully heavy sigh for a man as carefree as yourself." she shifted in the couch, making herself sink deeper into the fluffy cushions, "Tell me, Oliver," she drew out his name, making him shiver, "What are you thinking?"

Oliver though for a moment, then smiled, "I was thinking it's kind of hard to understand your accent sometimes. You tend to speak really quickly and I have no idea what you're saying."

Jem threw a pillow at him, "Hard to understand me? This coming from Mr Ireland. I barely know what you're saying a majority of the time."

Oliver threw the pillow back, "IRELAND?" he cried indignantly, "You think I'm Irish? Oh my – Iri – I – I think that's the worst thing anyone has ever said to me. _Ever._" he hissed the last word for the effect. Then quickly added, "In case you couldn't tell from my exasperation, I'm Scottish."

Jem laughed again, "There's a difference?" she teased.

Oliver huffed, "You're insane. You've clearly not called a Scott one of those... those... Leprechauns before, have you?" he said quickly, inching closer to the edge of the couch he was on. Jemima smiled an evil grin, daring him to do retaliate.

"I'm sorry?" she asked, still smiling, "I didn't understand any of that. Could you repeat it?"

Oliver launched himself at her, making her squeal, hitting her with the golden pillow in his hand, "Understand me now?" he yelled every time he whacked her with a golden pillow only to whack her harder when she yelled "What?"

Their pillow fight continued for another few minutes until Jemima squealed, "Truce! Truce!"

Oliver laughed, "Fine, fine!" throwing the pillow back on his original couch and sitting down next to her.

The two sat in silence for a while, occasionally laughing. Jem started to yawn and Oliver looked at her, "Bed time for Jemima?" she yawned again, "definitely bed time for Jemima."

Jem yawned a third time, "I think so. Stupid jet lag, I haven't slept in an entire 32 hours." as she went to move to the her box-room that the boys had relocated to in between the two dormitory stair cases and ended up tripping on a rogue golden pillow. She let out a small squeak as she fell, reaching out to grab Oliver to steady herself.

Unfortunately, Oliver wasn't ready to stop Jem from falling and as she ended up on the ground, he ended up on her, knocking the wind out of her. Jem gasped for air, as their eyes met. There was silence for a moment then Oliver began lowering his face to hers, but as his lips were about to touch hers, the portrait creaked open. Oliver jumped to his feet and watched the Weasleys return from the infirmary, their bodies de-haired and looking as mischievous as usual.

Fred cocked an eyebrow, "Why's Jem on the floor?" he asked as they made their way over to the other two.

"I tripped on the stupid pillow," she answered as George held out a hand to help her up, "I was about to go to bed," she rushed, "goodnight." she clambered over the rest of the pillows on her way to her box-room and slammed the door behind her.

"Girls," Fred and George sighed together, "What's her problem?" added George.

"No idea." Answered Oliver, blushing slightly. He made his way up the stairs, taking one last glance at Jem's box before heading to his room.


	3. Chapter 3

Jemima's POV.

I woke with a start to a furious knocking at my door. I looked at the small enchanted clock McGonagall had provided me with and sighed. It read 11pm. I'd been asleep about half an hour, what was so urgent? I wrenched the door open and death stared at whomever had dared to interrupt my slumber. I saw a mess of ginger hair.

"Fred?" I asked, I thought it was Fred.

"George," the Weasley corrected.

"Sorry, I've only been here a day, it'll take me a while to learn the difference." I sighed, rubbing my eyes, "Do you need something? I've had like half an hour and I –"

Fred appeared next to his brother and interrupted, "You've been asleep since last night."

I cocked her head to the side, "Huh?" I walked over to my bedside cabinet, looking for my watch. The twins were right, my watch said Sunday, "How the hell did that happen?"

"Jet lag, or so Oliver thought" Fred said.

_Oliver?_

"He asked us to check on you."

_Why hadn't he come himself?_

"We told him it'd be really awkward if you'd died."

_Then I remembered._

"Glad you're not though."

_He'd fallen on me, then he looked like he was about to – No._

"The whole 'school exchange' thing would be ruined."

_He hadn't tried to kiss me._

"We'd probably never get Angelina back. Jem's family might adopt her as payback."

_Had he?_

"Earth to Jem!" George waved his hand in front of my face.

"Sorry," I lied, "I tuned the two of you out."

"Oh good," came a call from somewhere behind the twins, "You've learnt an early lesson." the voice was Oliver's. He stood and walked towards the three of us, that silly little smirk on his face. He slapped his hands on the twins outer shoulders, making him the one in the middle, "Always phase out while they talk. There's no point in listening."

I blushed slightly, "I'll make a note of that."

The twins began speaking about something else as they walked back to the couch that Oliver had originated from. He made to look at his shoes, but stopped half way down. _Shit_, I'm in my pyjamas. By pyjamas, I mean my shorts and a sports bra. Oliver's eyes were stuck on my stomach, I moved my arms to hug around myself. Sure, I am an athlete so I'm fit, but what girl is comfortable with an attractive – I mean a man, a normal man – staring at her body?

Oliver finally moved his eyes to look at our feet, blushing almost as much as I was, "I'm going to... change... then I'll be back..." I said slowly, watching Oliver's glance continue to stare at his feet, "I'll be back."

I swiftly closed the door on Oliver and sighed. What the hell was wrong with me? It's not like I've never had a man look at me before. I've had plenty of boys look at me. Wait, not _plenty. _There was something in Oliver's eyes that intrigued me; I wanted to know him. Not as anything major, just friends. There's nothing wrong with being friends, is there?

I walked over to my chest of drawers and rummaged around. Pulling out my Catulus (my house in Nimirix) Quidditch Team singlet, I checked myself in the mirror and exited what the boys had dubbed my 'box-room'.

By the time I had changed, Fred and George had managed to enchant a piece of paper to fly about the room, shaped like a dragon. It even breathed fire. I must say, I was impressed.

"Nice shirt," Oliver commented as the dragon they were following swooped behind me.

"Thanks," I nodded, "It's my training singlet." I looked down at my purple and orange singlet, "It's my favourite."

Oliver smiled, "I can see why." I blushed. _Gahh, could I stop blushing?_

Fred and George looked to each other, "Bed time me thinks." they chuckled as they stood up, passed me and felt the need to ruffle my hair.

Oliver and I were alone again. There was a heavy awkward silence in the air. Oliver cleared his throat.

"So..." he said awkwardly, "How did you sleep?"

How did I sleep? Come on Oliver, find something interesting to talk about, I thought. "Very well thank you. The mattress Professor McGonagall conjured is most lovely."

"Well," he said excitedly, "Professor Flitwick invented a charm that makes the mattresses as comfortable as the person lying on it thinks it needs to be."

There was another silence.

"Jem I'm sorry about what happened the other night." Oliver blurted out.

"I don't know what you mean." I lied. I knew what he was talking about, I just didn't want to talk about it.

"Oh," he said surprised. Then he chuckled, "I just meant that, you know, I should have grabbed you instead of falling like an idiot." he added swiftly.

"It's ok," I smiled, "I'm as clumsy as a house elf wearing ice skates, so I know where you're coming from."

Oliver and I sat for what seemed like hours talking about Quidditch, family, friends; anything and everything really. Oliver was a lovely person, very talkative and very likeable. He seemed to be enjoying my company too; laughing with me, touching my arm occasionally.

We both laughed as I sat next to him on the couch. He shifted in his seat momentarily until he spoke, "You're really cool Jem." he said, shifting closer to me on the couch.

I smiled, shifting closer to him too, "Thanks Oliver," I chuckled, "You're quite nifty yourself."

"Nifty?" he laughed, wiping a piece of hair that was in front of my face, "Never been described as _nifty_ before."

We sat again in silence as Oliver looked into my eyes. The golden sparks in his brown eyes were quite lovely, his face warming and comforting. He moved his face closer to mine, just as it became slightly harder to breathe. His lips were close to mine and all I could do was think of them touching.

They were about to when Oliver pulled back, leaving me breathless and confused.

"I have to go Jem," he said with almost a touch of dismay in his voice, "I'm sorry."

He made a hasty exit up the stairs to his dormitory. Did I do something wrong?


	4. Chapter 4

I didn't sleep the rest of the night, with 15 hours sleep the previous night, my body decided sleep would not come. I wandered out of my room around 1am to find I wasn't the only one that sleep was refused to.

Oliver.

_Of course it had to be Oliver, didn't it?_

He sat on the couch closest to the ever-blazing fire. His eyes weren't focussed on the fire though; they were glazed in an odd concentrating yet far off look. Deciding it was best to just leave him, I went to turn to hide back in my box-room. As I opened the door, it creaked loudly. I froze.

"Jem?" Oliver asked my back still to him.

I spun on my heel, "Sorry Oliver," I smiled weakly, "I came out to chill on the couch, saw you and didn't want to distract you from whatever this," I gestured to his position on the couch, "is."

He chuckled, "It's ok. I couldn't really sleep; you're welcome to join me if you can't either."

I sighed and waltzed over to the couch opposite him and we sat there in silence for a while. Oliver was toying with the front cover of a tattered leather book as he lay back on his couch to stare at the ceiling.

"What's with the book?" I asked, no longer comfortable with the silence.

"Oh," Oliver said, sounding a little started, "it's the playbook…"

"Oh. Cool." I answered; this was getting fairly awkward fairly quickly.

Oliver mumbled a 'yeah' in agreement. We were back to the awkward silence. I couldn't help but think back to the moments we had together. It had been just over a _day_ since we met and it seemed as though he had tried to kiss me… _twice._ I huffed aloud.

"What's wrong?" Oliver asked, slight panic in his voice.

"Oliver, what is going on?" I asked frankly as I sat up on my couch and looked at him. He looked back, still lying down, with an expression of confusion, "I fall over. You land on me. You _lean in_ to me. Then, I call you nifty. Nifty, of all things and then… then…" I huffed again.

Oliver looked at me, as he brought himself up from this lying position, "Jem," he chuckled, "I 'lent in' to you when you fell because you breathed out. Your chest lowered and so did I, seeing as how I was on your chest at the time." I started to blush. I really was reading too much into things, Oliver was still speaking, "and the other time, I was moving on the couch. I didn't mean to lean in… I'm sorry if I freaked you out…"

_Nice one Jem, have a male be nice to you and you think he's trying to get some. Trust you to make a mountain out of a mole hill._

Oliver waved his hand near my face, "Are you with me?"

It was my turn to chuckle as I blushed, "Yeah, sorry. I'm just a little out of it. Blame this oddness on jetlag. I'll be right by morning."

Oliver laughed, "What can I blame my oddness on then? This is my turf, what's my reasoning?"

I pretended to be lost in thought, "You're Irish. That's your problem," Oliver glared as I laughed some more, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. I couldn't. I'm sorry."

Oliver smiled too, "You'll get yours Little J."

"Little J?" I asked incredulously, "you're kidding, right? I'm almost as tall as you!"

"You're smaller than me. That makes you little."

"Oh haha. Someone's smaller than you, gigantor. You know what _Olly_," I said icily, "Olly-Bear." I added with a chuckle.

"Olly-Bear?" He repeated, "That's ridiculous."

"So's Little J." I countered.

"How about… LJ?" He cocked an eyebrow.

I smiled. With four brothers and not many friends at Nimrix, I'd never really had a nickname other than 'Squirt' 'Short Stack' or 'Bub', "LJ works, I guess. Olly-Bear."

Oliver scoffed, "That's no fair. I compromised with you. I still get Olly-Bear?" he said the name with a lacklustre version of excitement.

"Fine," I drawled, relenting, "how's… Obi?"

"Obi… Obi…" Oliver said under his breath, as if testing the name, he shrugged, "Yeah, I 'spose that works." He smirked, "but on the pitch you call me Wood or Captain."

I laughed mid yawn, "Sure thing Obi. Sure thing." I yawned again, "I'm heading back to bed. Go back to bed, classes in the morning."

Oliver clambered up from the couch and walked to the stairs with me. He stopped at my door and turned to face me, this time the silence wasn't awkward. It was friendly and oddly calming. He lent in and gave me a long hug, "Night LJ," he whispered, his lips just past my ear.

"Night Obi," I smiled, hugging him back. Oliver opened the door for me and gestured for me to go into my room. The then closed the door after me and I could hear him sigh and trudge up the stairs to his dorm room.

I climbed into bed, smiling still. This was the beginning of a great year abroad and lovely friendship.


	5. Chapter 5

*Jem's POV*

My alarm woke me at 7am. It was an enchanted six inch wooden owl that my mother had given me when I first started at Nimirix. The best thing was that it flew about my head, hooting until I managed to capture it and sit it back on my chest of drawers.

I sat up in bed and stretched, it was Monday. Monday meant classes. In all honesty, I wasn't too concerned about the work-load. In Australia, we were actually a year ahead of the English; I was 14 turning 15 instead of 15 turning 16 like Oliver and his fellow class mates. This was the second time I would be starting my sixth year of lessons in a magical institution. Even though the ages of witches and wizard at home were different, we completed school at age 17[in eighth]; the same age of Hogwarts students at completion of school.

I hadn't mentioned this to the people I had met yet, namely Oliver, Fred and George, but I had met with Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore mid-holidays. We had discussed how the year would work and how the lessons would be arranged. Professor McGonagall had spoken to my professors and if I was sick of repeating classes they were more than happy to send my seventh year work load to Hogwarts. I had decided to take Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms and Potions. It was a smaller work load then the other students would be taking on in their sixth year, but the two professors had decided it didn't matter which classes I chose not to take, considering this year would be about the culture and Quidditch as opposed to my academics. That is not say that I wouldn't be achieving my best in class, I just wouldn't have to worry as much about it.

I dressed in my Nimirix robes – it was much like the Hogwarts attire – I slid on my black pleated skirt and the crisp white business shirt, the only thing different was my purple and orange striped tie. I knew it was going to be cold outside. I had told the boys when we were on the train that I would be the strange foreign girl shivering in the middle autumn. In Australia, the maximum temperatures in autumn got up to about thirty degrees, I was used to feeling the heat. England would be a nice reprieve from the heat – summer other here would barely reach mid-twenties. Though, that meant that when winter hit, I would freeze, I'd never even seen snow.

Shaking myself from my thoughts, I slipped out of my box-room to see who was in the common room. I smiled as I saw one of the twins sitting on the couch that I had sat a few hours ago. He was flicking his wand around and playing with another paper creation that was strolling around the table in front of him.

I walked to the couch and sat next to him.

"Good Morning," I said, good naturedly, "How did you sleep?"

"Well, thanks," he said then looked at me with a smile of mischievousness, "I'll bet you a sickle you can't pick which twin I am."

I laughed, faking confidence, "I know who you are, _George_," emphasizing the name for effect.

"Fred." He corrected me with a bigger smile.

I went red, "Oh," I said, smiling, "I know. I was just messing with you!"

Fred laughed, "Ah," he said, "You got me." We both laughed, "Here's a trick that our mum uses,"

Fred dropped his wand and the paper creature fell lifeless on the table. He turned to face me, "Mum says that I'm about an inch taller than Georgie." I smiled at the affectionate nick name, "but, if we're sitting down, I have a scar over my left eye," he turned so I could see his eyebrow. There was a faint but visible scar as long as his eyebrow.

"Alrighty," I said seriously, "Fred – taller, scarred." He nodded, "George – short stuff, baby faced." He laughed with me.

"Who's short?" came a voice as it bounded down the stairs, George walked over to us.

"Some weirdo." I answered, receiving a chuckle from Fred.

The twins and I chatted for a while, talking about their family, my family and everything in between. It was great to talk to other people from large families. I had four older brother and they had four brothers and a sister. We spoke for about half an hour until the brothers decided it was time for us to go to the hall for breakfast. We walked together, Fred pointing out all the different passages that lead to classrooms I would be in and George pointing out the best "snog spots" in case I found a "foreign love" as he had put it. We all laughed at this as we entered the great hall.

The roof was less dazzling than last night; the stars really did make it amazing. The sky was a slight bit cloudy, as if to bring rain later in the day – just the way I liked it. I spotted Oliver a few people down at the back of the hall, he saw us walk in and waved us over.

"Someone's up early." I commented as I sat next to him, across from Fred and diagonally across from George.

"I was flying," Oliver answered between sips of orange juice, "first day of term tradition. Sleep in on the first days of term—" he started.

"Loose the House Cup." Fred and George finished in unison.

Oliver gave them a look and continued on his breakfast. I looked around at the breakfast feast; it was a lot more extravagant than Nirmirix. We were greeted each morning by juices, coffees, teas or smoothies along with toast, seasonal fruits and a few cereals. We had bacon, eggs and pancakes on Sundays. Hogwarts seemed to have everything I could think of to eat – except, I noticed with dismay – coffee.

"Great," I mumbled.

"Alright, Love?" Fred asked, hearing my annoyance. I had found on the train that the Weasleys, Fred especially, were quite partial to calling their female companions 'love'. Hell, the only time I would care what someone called me is if it were behind my back.

I furrowed my brow, "No coffee."

George chuckled, "No coffee for athletes." He and Oliver said at the same time.

I almost whipped my head to Oliver, "What?"

"Athletes in my team are not allowed coffee." He said.

"That's not fair." I said plainly, "I can't function without coffee."

"Well, you need to learn," said Oliver, icily as he passed my schedule for the term, "here. Your first class is Defence against the Dark Arts. We've got our classes together."

There was a small ding and I watched as people began to leave the great hall. Oliver did so too and bidding the twins farewell, I grabbed a chocolate chip muffin and took off behind him.

What was his problem?

And more importantly, how the hell am I supposed to function without coffee?


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Thank you to the people who have reviewed this so far. Those who are following it, I sincerely apologise for not updating. Our internet provider has been buggering us around for a while now.**

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><p>Oliver had insisted we sit at the back of the classroom in our first class. Defence Against the Dark Arts seemed like an incredibly interesting subject and I couldn't quite understand why, as I looked around the room, I was the only girl who wasn't sitting in the first two rows. I watched as the dozen or so girls at the front of the room began to giggle and whisper with excitement.<p>

"Obi," I asked, yawning slightly. The lack of coffee still affecting my state of concentration, "Why are all the girls up there? Are we supposed to be separated into gender or something?"

Oliver chuckled at the use of his nickname in public, "No, no gender issues here. You'll see soon enough."

I looked warily at him, clearly he knew more than I did about Professor Lockhart than I did. I looked curiously towards the doors that the professor was about to enter though, eager to see. Soon, however, I was regretting the interest I had previously shown.

A flamboyant man with golden hair, perfectly curled around his face, entered the room with a flourish. He was clad in a blue velvet pant-suit with matching robe that flowed as he almost galloped towards his half-attentive class. I snorted. I was fairly certain he was –

"Is he wearing makeup?" Oliver finished my though aloud for me, leaning close to my ear so he and I were the only ones to hear.

I snorted a little too loud, attracting glares from the bimbos at the front of the class and, unfortunately, Lockhart himself.

"Oh, my dear," he drawled as he attempted to look suave, "wouldn't you rather be up here with the rest of your friends so you don't miss the action?"

I almost snorted again, I fixed the nicest smile I could muster and replied, "I've got a friend here," I motioned to Oliver, "and my eyesight's fine. So no, I don't need to be any close to…" I grimaced, making a small circle with my hand towards him, "your action."

I could have sworn one of the stupid girls hissed at me.

Lockhart's face dropped as Oliver began to choke trying to stifle his laugh. Lockhart attempted to laugh at my joke as well, but his humour didn't reach his eyes. He swiftly moved back towards the floundering young girls, the ones in the classroom that were interested in his 'action'.

Oliver gently slapped me on the back, "Oh LJ, that's about the best thing I've ever seen someone say to a teacher." I chuckled, "and I've been in joint classes with the twins."

The rest of Lockhart's 'lesson' consisted of him giving us a 'lecture' on his 'adventures' with a werewolf. In all honesty, his lecture was about how he battled a werewolf and managed to keep his hair perfectly in place.

I found my mind wandering as Lockhart continued to ramble. I looked at Oliver, he was slowly falling asleep, eyes drooping and his raspy breathing becoming slowed and steady. It's not creepy that I know what Oliver's breath is like, he's broken his nose so many times (playing Quidditch, I suppose) that when he breathes through it there's an annoying little whistle what escapes. I had noticed it on the train to Hogwarts and Fred had explained what it was.

Aside from Oliver dozing, there was not much else of interest for me. I thought back to this morning at breakfast. Oliver had been rather snippy at me this morning regarding the coffee incident. I made a mental moment to ask him later, when he wasn't so tired.

I was about to fall asleep myself when I heard a loud owl hooting, I about wet myself. The reason for the loud noise was soon apparent as every one of the boys in my class, including Oliver, quickly packed their books back into their bags and practically ran to the door. The girls, however, sighed emotionally and reluctantly began to disperse. I grabbed on to Oliver's arm so as not to get lost in the crowded hallway between classes.

I was hoping that the next class was more interesting.

Or had a better professor.

Let's face it, a flobber worm could have taught better than Lockhart.

Our next class, according to Oliver, was Charms. We had to scale a few flights of stairs to make it to the classroom but there was around 15 minutes to get around on the grounds and between classes. Oliver and I arrived 10 minutes before class was supposed to start and I cracked a cheeky smile as I saw Fred and George at the back of the classroom.

"What are you doing here?" I beamed. George slid out of the bench to allow me to sit next to Fred and Oliver slid in after me, having George sit on the other side of Oliver.

"I'm surprised Oliver didn't tell you," started Fred.

"Fifth and sixth year Gryffindors have Charms together." George smiled.

"So you're stuck with us!" Laughed Fred.

"All – "

"Year—"

"Long."

The talking word for word was starting to make me dizzy, but I laughed none the less.

We sat and chatted for a while, me discussing Australia with Fred as George and Oliver discussed what else? Quidditch. By the time the class actually started, Fred was fully facing me, his back against the wall as we laughed about his younger brother's fear of spiders. Fred was lovely to talk to. I was enjoying our chat when a small man cleared his throat.

"Welcome to Charms for the year Gryffindors." He said in a small but booming voice, "I understand there is a new student with us this year? Miss Jemima Smith?" The small man climbed up on a stool at the front of the class as I raised my hand in the air, blushing. I had yet to be singled out as the 'new girl' and it was slightly unnerving.

"Ah! Miss Smith," He cried happily, "I am Professor Flitwick. It's so lovely to meet you."

"And you sir," I said happily. Flitwick looked much more inviting and intelligent than Lockart.

"I understand you know all about this year's subject matter?" he asked as I nodded, "Fantastic. Today we will be starting on the Avis charm. Would you please demonstrate this to the class?"

I blushed harder. I had not done magic in front of my new friends yet. I nodded, none the less and retrieved my wand from my bag. I cleared my throat and raised my wand. In a swift figure eight motion I cast the spell.

"Avis," I whispered. A small blue bird erupted from my wand and flew around the room. To my surprise, several of my classmates (including Oliver, Fred and George) began to clap.

"Fantastic!" Cried Professor Flitwick, "15 points to Gryffindor!"

George and Oliver slapped me on the back as I sat back down, Fred, however, squeezed my leg once I had sat.

"Sorry," he mumbled, seeing my questioning face.

"No, no Fred," I said, placing my hand on his leg, squeezing it as he had done, "it's ok. It just startled me a little."

Professor Flitwick had settled the class down and began to teach them all how to cast the_ Avis_ charm. He used me as a helper to the class, assisting a new of the students perfect the figure eight.

It turned out that Fred and George needed more help than anyone else. I laughed as a small orange feather popped out of George's wand. He didn't look very happy at the prospect of the charm failing so Oliver, who had succeeded after 3 tries, was helping him and I was helping Fred.

"This is pointless Jem," Fred sighed, a little aggravated that the last 40minutes of the lesson had proven fruitless.

"Aw," I said, grabbing his right hand in my left, "Come on, you're so close. I swear I saw a beak trying to get out last time." Fred rolled his eyes, "I'm not kidding Fred, come on. We'll do it together." I raised our hands, thankful that I was left handed and he was right.

George and Oliver were watching as Fred and I were sweeping the wand up and down in the figure eight. Fred was grinning from ear to ear as we both muttered _'Avis'_.

A large peacock erupted from Fred's wand and several students jumped. Whipping their heads around to look at the big bird, Flitwick almost fell off his stool and clapped loudly. I had managed to take my hand away before anyone aside from the four of us had seen I was assisting.

"Mr Weasley!" Flitwick said, "that is the loveliest bird that I have seen all day! 15 points to Gryffindor!" a small frown appeared on his face, "I think that's the first time I've awarded points to you or your brother. I shall have to mention Miss Smith's efforts with the two of you to Professor McGonagall."

I laughed lightly as Fred petted the peacock between its eyes. He then reached to sweep a piece of my hair out of my eyes.

"Thank you Jem," Fred smiled sweetly.

I smiled back at him, not seeing the seething look Oliver had given the both of us from behind my back.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Thanks again to all who've followed this story. If anyone could take the time to give me some feedback about what they like and what they don't. I would appreciate it very much. I sometimes think the story is going too slowly then I think it's going too fast. **

**Thanks again! x**

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><p>The next few weeks of classes passed without mention. Oliver and I went between classes chatting about Quidditch and different teams in the Euro league. We talked mostly about Quidditch and how excited Oliver was about starting training. Our first training session was scheduled for Saturday morning and I couldn't be more excited. I had decided to get into my training regime a few days early and luckily on Thursdays our first lesson was a free period. After breakfast, I followed Oliver to the pitch.<p>

"Hey Obi!" I called behind him as he walked down the hill to the pitch.

His head snapped up, "LJ!" he said happily, "What're you doing up this early?" he slowed his pace to the pitch so I could catch up.

"I thought I'd find you heading to the pitch. I wanted to come down to start conditioning before we trained on the weekend." I answered slowly.

Oliver laughed, "You'll need to be in shape once I take over your training." I looked at him with a laugh, "I'm not kidding. I'm a horrible person when I'm training my people."

I laughed again, "I doubt you'll be any worse than Nicholas, my captain at home. She was super tough on us. She takes a special interest in Chasers."

We arrived at the pitch and Oliver made for one of the cupboards near the entrance. There were four doors in a row; each a different colour. The one Oliver went to was red. I would say about 10 years ago it was bright red, but the years had weathered it. The others were yellow, blue and green respectively.

Oliver dragged out a box that he said was filled with Quaffles after returning to the cupboard for a few minutes, he looked up at me.

"Where's your broom? I thought McGonagall would have had it put in the cupboard with the rest of them." He squinted slightly as the sun shone over my shoulder.

I smiled knowingly, "It's in my room still. I wanted to keep it with me. Plus, I'm still in conditioning phase, not the flying phase of my training. I can't just get in the air and expect to be able to perform."

Oliver looked perplexed as I took off towards the inner oval that was the pitch. I was wearing my long track-pants and baggy sweatshirt with my training clothes on underneath. As I stood on the pitch, I quickly shed the long pants to reveal my tight knee-high exercise pants. Oliver had walked with his broom towards me as I began to warm up. I kept my sweat shirt on as I stood straight up, inching my neck further towards the sky. I then swept my upper body down to my toes, easily tucking my fingers under my toes without bending my knees. I stood up after a few minutes of dangling to see Oliver staring at me questioningly.

"Nicholas had a specific way to train us." I explained, stretching my arms around me, "The two days before our 'official' practice, we would all convene at the pitch for 'conditioning'. We started with 10 minutes of stretching, then a 5km jog followed by some gentle warm-down yoga."

Oliver was floored, "You weren't kidding when you said Nicholas was tough."

I nodded as I slipped my sweat shirt over my head. My exercise shirt was a black singlet that reached just below my belly button. I smiled at Oliver as he walked closer to me, stretching his arms as he walked.

"Aren't you getting up in the air?" I asked.

"Nope," he smiled softly, "You're going to teach me how to 'condition' myself."

I laughed, "Are you sure you're ready?"

He nodded and bent down to stretch his back just like I had minutes before. I stifled a laugh. Oliver was barely able to touch his shins. Clearly he had never stretched much before.

He glared at me, "Let's just jog." He conceded.

We began our jog around the oval. Oliver was a decent jogger, he kept pace well. Though, if I was honest with myself, I was going easy on him. I had yet to break a sweat or lose my breath, Oliver caught on with my charade quite quickly. Little bugger.

"If you can go faster, you should." He puffed, "don't let me interrupt your warm up."

I smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "Thanks Obi." I took off in a semi sprint. I wanted to push myself, prepare myself for the season. I needed to prove myself at Hogwarts; I was the best female athlete at Nimirix and I needed to be here too. I had met the rest of the team earlier in the week and they all looked like fit athletes, I needed to be the best.

I hadn't told Oliver or the Weasleys about what the entire conversation and agreement between my school and theirs had entailed. If I proved myself this year, kept to my classes and excelled at Quidditch, I would be allowed to study for a European and Australian Wizarding Dual Citizenship. I could stay at Hogwarts and complete schooling and then try out for the European Quidditch Team scouters that came at the end of the year. I needed this year to be great. Australia didn't have nearly as large a league as Europe did. Australia had a total of 5 teams and the only way to get on to one of those teams was an old member had to retire… or die. I wasn't looking forward to failing at Hogwarts this year and being sent home. My parents expected me to study to be a medi-witch like my mother and her mother and, more recently, my sister. I didn't want to heal people; my love was flying.

I soon found myself over-lapping Oliver, much to his dismay, and finishing my 5km run in just over my personal best of 17minutes. Oliver took an extra 15 minutes to finish which was still an excellent time for a person who isn't a regular runner.

I had lain down on the grass to cool myself off, roughly in the middle of the pitch. Oliver joined me once he had finished his laps and we let our breath settle down to a normal intake.

"That… sucks…" Oliver panted, "How often… did you … do that?"

"I'm not going to lie," I said, panting slightly, "It's usually double that distance." Oliver sounded shocked, "We only had to do it twice a week though." I added quickly.

"Oh," he sounded sarcastic, "Only twice a week? Lucky."

I laughed. Oliver and I sat in silence for a while, enjoying the cool breeze that the autumn air was bringing us. It was Oliver who spoke first.

"You and Fred seem to be getting to know each other." He said attempting to be casual.

I laughed, thinking of the nights Fred and I had spent over the past few days in the common room. Playing Wizard's chess and exploding snap. Fred was a lovely guy, fantastic to talk to and a really funny guy.

"Fred's very…" I thought for a moment, "cool." I ended, lamely, glad that my red face from running made the blush that was forming unnoticeable.

Oliver propped himself up on his elbow and turned his body to me, "Cool?" he said incredulously, "That's the best you can up with?"

I propped myself up as well, facing Oliver with a small and embarrassed smile, "Yes. He's cool. Like you're cool and George is cool and everyone I've met as of yet is cool…" I smiled, "aside from Lockhart." I added as an afterthought.

"There's a difference between a cool friend and a cool 'someone you hang out with every spare minute of your day'."

"I'm making friends Obi," I said, "That's what I'm here to do. I can't help it if everyone goes to their dormitories and Fred's the only one left to talk to." I was getting annoyed at the look that Oliver was giving me, "Besides, who's to say who I can and can't talk, hang out or be friends with?"

"No one," Oliver said, sounding annoyed, "It's just if you want to do well at Quidditch this year, you could pick a better person to befriend. He's not the most serious person when it comes to putting his mind to it."

I stood, walking to get my shirt and pants, "A better person?" I asked, "You mean a better person like you. Someone whose quidditch obsessive and talks about nothing other than it?" I turned to face him before I left, "I think I'd rather hang out with someone who I can laugh with than someone who thinks life has to be super serious all the time. At least Fred _and_ George know how to hold a conversation about something that doesn't include Quaffles or Broom models." I stormed off towards to castle.

Oliver had been so rude, what was wrong with hanging out with Fred? He was lovely, kind and very attractive –

Oh no. I think I have a crush on Fred Weasley.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Thanks everyone for the story alerts and favourites. A special thanks to DamonSalvetorelover, AnnabethWeasley22, WeasleyRainbow. Super special thanks to Adrian Patch who gave me my first long feedback! Happy thanksgiving to you too and to all the American readers! We don't celebrate thanksgiving in Australia, but I do enjoy the Black Friday specials I get online!**

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><p>Oliver was completely out of line. He had no right to dictate who I talk to or who I get close to. It wasn't like Fred and I were doing anything inappropriate.<p>

Fred and I were… close. There was no real other way to say it. It wasn't a strange thing for me to be close to boys. I had three older brothers and, Nicholas [my Quidditch captain] was my best friend. Fred _and_ George were like a reminder of home; both were cracking jokes and the occasional prank but there was something different about Fred. I have to admit, I could see myself falling for Fred. I hadn't yet, but I could see how it could happen.

Fred and I were close. Not just talking and hanging out, but he and I seemed to be overly touchy with each other. The first Charms lesson was the start of it all; he had squeezed my leg – the most harmless of things that started it, an invitation of friendliness that had progressed over the weeks.

Oliver, however, didn't seem too happy about it. He began to sit away from Fred, George and I in Charms but 'allow' me to sit with him in other classes where I knew very few. I couldn't help but be a slight bit confused. What had I done wrong? If it was Fred and I's friendship, he had rejected the idea of he and I being 'close' in my first few days at Hogwarts, so he really had no say as to who I talked to and who befriended me.

All of these thoughts ran through my head as I sprinted around the Quidditch Pitch early on Saturday morning. I had awoken at 6:00am to start my training an hour early. On my final lap of a 10km run, I saw Oliver walking down the hill to the pitch followed by two red heads [obviously my favourite set of twins] and three others; clearly Harry, Katie and Alicia. I was looking forward to seeing the others techniques.

"Morning Jem!" George greeted with a slap on my back as I came to a halt.

"George," I acknowledged, slowing my breath as I warmed down, I walked over to Oliver with a bright smile on my face, "Morning Obi." I greeted warmly.

"Jem." He barked, "You could have told me you were down here. I was wandering all over the castle looking for you."

I cocked my head, "I'm sorry. Did you not actually hear me the, I don't know, eleven times I mentioned I'd be down here by six?"

Oliver looked at me questioningly as I followed him to the worn red cupboard that now housed my broom too, "You didn't tell me at all." He huffed, nearly throwing the brooms out of the cupboard.

"I did." I argued, "_You_ probably didn't hear me because it had nothing to do with Quidditch Strategy. I could understand if I was talking to you about something random, but it's _Quidditch_." I was getting exasperated, "The _only_ thing I can ever talk to you about because you don't listen to anything else!" I was almost yelling. Luckily, the other players were out on the pitch readying for the session.

Oliver looked at me, his face oddly soft, "Is that why you don't talk to me much anymore?"

I was confused again, "Huh? I try to talk to you plenty. I thought you didn't want to talk to me cause of the whole 'Fred' thing."

Oliver gave a sad smile, "I'm sorry LJ, I over reacted. You can talk to whomever you want – especially Fred, he's a top bloke. No one better than the Weasleys to show you a great time at Hogwarts…" I chuckled, he pulled me into a warm one armed hug, "Do I really talk about Quidditch that much?" he asked sheepishly.

I laughed aloud, "Merlin yes. All the time." Oliver laughed too, "Don't worry though. I can teach you how to hold a conversation without mentioning the dreaded Q word."

Oliver slung the bag of Quaffles over his shoulder and levitated the teams brooms over to the middle of the pitch, "Can't avoid the Q word now, LJ." He passed me my broom and watched me kick off, "Let's play some Quidditch."

The first team practice went swimmingly. I was exhausted as Fred, George, Oliver and I walked back to the castle. They had chosen to take me back via the lake at the back of Hogwarts; it was so beautiful for such a murky wad of water. Out in the middle of the lake, I could see ripples. Suddenly a giant tentacle emerged from the lake; deep purple with giant suckers on the bottom. I won't lie. I about shat myself. I leapt backwards into Oliver and Fred; both laughing at me as I grasped their arms.

"What the hell is that?" I cried, attempting to get my heart beat to relax.

Fred rubbed my arm, "It's the giant squid. He lives in the lake."

"He's… he's… scary." I concluded.

This time Oliver spoke, "_He's_ a _she_."

I turned to look at him, "How do you know?"

Oliver led me over to the edge of the lake where George was sitting, "When I was in first year," he started as we all sat too, "I was walking around the grounds on a Friday afternoon when I saw Hagrid," he turned to me, "the grounds keeper," I nodded, "scooping something around the size of a dinner plate out of the lake."

"What was it?" George asked, he and Fred looked intrigued.

"A baby squid," I quessed.

"Bang on LJ," Oliver smiled, "I walked closer to Hagrid and he showed me. This tiny little thing would turn out as big as that," he gestured the tentacles that were slowing moving above the water, "it was so… awesome." He finished, slightly embarrassed.

"That is so cool." I whispered, "Hogwarts is beautiful." I lent on Fred's shoulder as I gave Oliver's leg a squeeze, "Nimirix is nothing compared to this."

The boys laughed, "Wish we could see it," commented George, "I'd love to get me some Australian girls."

I leaned over to swat him over the head as the boys laughed again. We stayed at the lake for a while rambling about Australia and Hogwarts until Oliver's stomach audibly began to growl.

Deciding it was time to eat, Fred and George lead us off to the kitchens to rustle up some food from the elves.


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks to all who've been waiting patiently for this chapter. I'm on holidays from work so hopefully I'll be almost finished with the story before I go back in the New Year. I plan to write a chapter a day. Reviews would be much appreciated, but if you'd just prefer to just read, I'm down with that too. **

**Thanks again x **

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><p>Oliver and I had started talking again, thank Merlin, and we were beginning to get closer as friends. The night before the first Quidditch match, I had gone for a walk to settle the nerves that were growing in the pit of my stomach. I always handled anticipation like this, even when I knew that our team was the strongest, I still became nervous.<p>

I had stopped about five minutes ago, spying a window about three or four meters off the ground. Scaling the walls at Hogwarts was much easier than Nimirix; Hogwarts hadn't modernised itself so all the bricks and stones jutted out at different places making climbing easy. I found myself staring out the window, which conveniently over looked the Quidditch Pitch. _What if a bludger takes me out in the first few minutes? What if Harry catches the snitch but Ravenclaw still win? What if I can't hold on to the Quaffle cause I'm swetting too much?_

"Jem?" Came a voice, making me jump slightly – not the best thing to do whilst perched almost four meters off the ground. I looked down to see Oliver standing there, looking bewildered.

"Oliver, you scared the hell out of me!" I said, catching my breath, "You could have killed me!"

"Well," Oliver smiled, "Perhaps the windowsill isn't the best place to perch..." we chuckled, "unless you've got wings I suppose." He added.

I laughed with him and then there was silence.

"Want some company?" he asked, avoiding my gaze, "I mean, I know you've probably gone up there to avoid people. I shouldn't have asked. I'm an idiot. I'm sorry. I'll go." He turned to leave.

"Obi," I laughed, "stop rambling." Oliver turned to face me, "I would love some company."

Oliver smiled lightly and began to scale the wall just as I had done, except with a lot less grace and a bit more physical prowess. Oliver sat himself down on the sill across from me and we sat for a moment in silence; neither of us looking at each other, just at the pitch.

"I'm scared." I was the first to break the silence, whispering my confession into the silence.

"Me too." Oliver said, just as quietly. He took my hand in his and squeezed, "The first game always scares me but we can do it. We're Gryffindors."

I chuckled, "You are." I shook my head, "I'm only a Gryffindor because Angelina was the one to win the scholarship. I'd be a—" I shuddered, "Slytherin if one of them had won."

Oliver laughed and let go of my hand, "is it hard?" he asked, out of the blue.

"Is what hard Oliver?" I asked, having no idea what he was talking about.

"Being on the other side of the world to your family? To your friends?"

I felt a familiar prick at the back of my throat and a burning behind my eyes. I would not cry in front of my Quidditch Captain, "It's tough." I admitted, fighting back the tears, "My parents have written to me a few times, Nicholas had a letter here for me when I arrived… but I've heard nothing from my friends." I sighed.

Oliver coughed slightly, "Nicholas? Your Nimirix Captain? Are you two close?"

"Nick was my boyfriend." Oliver looked at me for the first time since he had arrived on the sill.

"Oh." Oliver said tentatively, "was?" he asked.

"We were together for about two and a half years." I sighed, "I arrived at Hogwarts and went into my room for the first time to unpack and I found a letter in the top of my suitcase." My voice was starting to crack a bit and I didn't want to show Oliver that I was upset. As if sensing my troubles, Oliver scooted a bit closer to me and wrapped his arm around me.

"You don't have to finish." He said, squeezing my shoulders.

"It's ok." I said, sniffing a bit, "I feels good to get it off my chest. You don't mind listening, do you?" Seeing Oliver shake his head, I continued. "So the letter: _Jemima, This long distance thing isn't going to work. Plus, I've found someone else. Kara says have fun, we've been together for about 6 months now. You knew it wasn't working with us, right? Nick._" I was starting to tear up, "We'd been together almost three years and he was dating Kara, my best friend."

"Wow," was all Oliver could say, "That's pretty horrid."

I chuckled a bit, "Cheers Ob," I lent my head on his shoulder, "George tells me that he and Fred will throw a party when we whip Ravenclaw's butts."

Oliver laughed loudly, "It's a pretty massive celebration. You just wait to see the one we have when we win the cup at the end of the year."

I laughed and yawned at the same time, "Can't wait."

"Time to sleep Miss Gorman, you need your sleep for tomorrow," Oliver turned and began to scale down the wall, jumping when he was almost at the bottom.

I joined him on the ground moments later, jumping from the window to the ground. Oliver looked shocked, "What if you had fallen?" he asked, "We've got Quidditch tomorrow."

"I didn't. It's all good." I laughed.

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><p>I woke the next day at 7, meeting the rest of the team in the great hall for breakfast. I sat between Oliver and Fred, pushing the scrambled eggs and bacon Fred had piled on a plate for me with my fork.<p>

Fred reached under the table and took my hand, "Please eat something?"

I gave him a small smile, "I assure you, Fred, if I eat I will vomit mid-air."

"That sounds like a laugh." George chuckled, overhearing our conversation, "Do it. Maybe you'll end up vomiting on Davies' face."

I kicked George under the table and the rest of the team laughed. It turned 7:30 and we headed down to the pitch. I felt my stomach drop; I was so scared. I'd never played in front of this many people. Nimirix was a tiny school compared to Hogwarts; Quidditch matches were usually occupied by hundreds – not thousands. People from the surrounding village, Hogsmede, even came to the games.

I made to follow Katie and Alicia into the women's locker room but a hand pulled me away and over to the side; behind a post clad in scarlet and gold. Suddenly, a pair of lips crashed down on mine. The kiss was brief but sweet.

I looked up and saw the culprit of the butterflies in my stomach.

"Fred?" I asked, bewildered.

Fred looked a little shocked at his actions too, "I—" he started, "I just wanted to wish you good luck for the match but then I saw you… and I–" he grabbed me and kissed me again, this time one of his hands was holding the back of my head, making sure the kiss lasted as long as he wanted it to, "So," he spoke again when we broke apart, "Good luck."

Fred turned on his heel and headed back towards the locker rooms. I was a little stunned at what had just happened. Fred had kissed me. To be honest, it was… nice. Fred was a lovely kisser. So now I had that to think about as well as winning the match. Awesome.

After I had dressed in the red and scarlet robes Oliver had given Alicia to give to me and Oliver had given his pre-game peptalk, we headed out onto the pitch. I could hear someone commentating.

"In Spinnett's absence this year, Wood and the Gryffindor's are welcome Australian Player Jemima Gorman. Or as I like to call her; the Gormanator." That did it. It was Lee Jordan. I had met Lee on my first day. He was super funny and very nice; except he had taken to calling me Gorminator, not the best or most flattering name for a girl.

Before I knew it, the team had mounted their brooms and they were up in the air. I kicked off and felt the familiar rush of wind in my hair, ready to play. Fred and George swooped past me, using their bats as swords and fighting each other.

Then the whistle blew.

The game was on.


	10. Chapter 10

**Two updates in a day! I'm so proud of myself. Looks like I'll be finishing the story before Christmas at this rate. I've already written the final chapter; now just to write the bits in between. Hope you all enjoy - Tria x **

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><p>We had done it. We had won the match. I was ecstatic; we had won by 200 points. Alicia, Katie and I had scored 120 points before Harry caught the snitch. Ravenclaw 70 – Gryffindor 270. It was magic. Oliver had looked so proud when I had scored the first goal. I had also flown over to Lee halfway through the match and thrown the Quaffle at his face. The Gormanator was getting too much.<p>

Fred and George had thrown quite an amazing party. I was standing between Katie and Alicia, sipping the 'Weasley Brand Punch' that had been supplied. It was lovely; laced with Alcohol, but lovely. I felt strange drinking alcohol; at Nimirix there was a spell on the grounds and alcohol could not be brought on to campus. I had had alcohol before; at friend's birthdays and Christmas time as well.

I was watching as the twins danced to the music that was coming from nowhere. George wiggled his way over and took Alicia's hand. She giggled as he led her to the dance floor that had been created by moving the couches and poofs to the sides of the common room. Katie was soon taken from me as well, this time by Lee, who led her over to one of the poofs and they started to chat, their faces very close to each other. I knew where that would lead.

"Fantastic match today Jem," Hermione said as she came to get another drink.

"Hitting Lee in the face and still managing to keep the Quaffle away from Ravenclaw?" Ron said, following her, "Bloody brilliant."

I watched as Hermione took a sip of the punch, her face contorting into a grimace, "Fred and George usually leave it normal for a few hours before adding their 'special ingredient' to it."

I laughed, "Here," I said waving my wand in front of her glass, "try it now.

She took a small tentative sip and smiled, "Thanks Jem! You'll have to teach me that spell!"

She and Ron took off again, joining Harry near the window where he was talking to Ginny. I turned back to look at the dancing twins to see that Fred was no longer dancing. He was sitting on a poof by himself, taking the last sip from his cup. I refilled my cup and another one to take over to him.

"Nice match Mr Weasley," I said, sitting down next to him and offering him the new cup.

He accepted the cup and took a long swig from it, sighing with content he spoke, "You too Miss Gorman."

There was a silence, "Jem," Fred spoke first, "I wanted to apologise for what I did before the match – I had no right to bombard you like that. I –"

I interrupted Fred with pressing my lips to his; it was my turn to show what I was feeling. I liked Fred, I really did. Telling Oliver about the Nicholas incident helped a lot to get over it; I was free to do what I wanted, with who I wanted.

Fred pulled back, "Really?" he asked, slightly shocked, "I didn't think you'd… I thought you fancied…" he trailed off.

"Who?" I asked, looking at Fred as he avoided my eyes.

"I thought you liked Oliver." He admitted, blushing slightly.

I laughed, "Fred, Oliver has made it more than clear that we're just friends."

Fred had barely waited for me to finish what I was saying before his lips were on mine again, "Good." He said against my mouth as we continued to kiss, "Will you go out with me?" he asked between kisses.

"God yes." I answered; I was lifted off the ground by Fred and placed in his lap as he continued to kiss me, rubbing his hands over my arms and neck.

Little did I know, several people were looking at us; George, Alicia, Katie and Oliver.

The next few weeks with Fred was lovely; aside from the classes that were just my year, we spent all our time together. As November rolled around, I helped him study and write his essays and he was teaching me to pull off the most amazing pranks. Fred had invited me to the first Hogsmede visit for the year and, of course, I had agreed without hesitation.

The only thing about being with Fred so much was that I was missing time with Oliver. The only time I had seen Oliver was in class or on the pitch. The next Quidditch match was a draw between us and Hufflepuff and Oliver was spending more and more of his time locked away in his dormitory or Captain's office. He was also getting more and more frustrated at me and the twins when we were off having fun.

Hogsmede weekend arrived and I was in my room getting ready. It was getting cooler and I had put a pair of skinny jeans on with the Weird Sister's jumper that Alicia and Katie had bought me. I exited my bedroom and ran right into Oliver as he was walking down his stairs to the common room.

"Oh!" I said, startled, "Sorry Obi!"

Oliver didn't look at me, "It's fine Jemima. I'll see you later." Was all he said to me before he swiftly left the common room.

It was not long until Fred had joined me in the common room, taken me by the hand and led me to the pathway that ended at Hogsmede. Fred took me to Quality Quidditch Supplies which was amazing. There were so many things in there that I wanted; I decided on a subscription to Quidditch Weekly and some broom resign. We then headed to Florish and Blotts so I could get some purple ink; purple was my favourite colour and I had just run out of it. Fred had decided to buy something too, but made me turn around so I couldn't see what it was. Then he took me to Zonko's Joke Shop. He was like a kid in a candy store. He showed me all of his favourites and scared the living daylights out of me with draws that threw confetti at you when you opened them and wands that turned to snakes when you touched them.

After that, we went to The Three Broomsticks to have something Fred called a 'Butterbeer'. I had no idea what this was, but I assumed it had no alcohol in it seeing as how we were underage and there were about 2 dozen students in the pub when we got there.

Fred sat me on a stool and headed to the bar; he arrived back and handed me a cold flagon of what looked like plain Australian Beer. I watched Fred take a sip and I looked down at my glass wearily.

Fred laughed, "Go on." He said, almost as if daring me to try it, "It's not disgusting."

I laughed too, "Are you sure?" I took a small sip and swallowed, it was actually quite nice. Slightly fizzy and tangy, "It's nice."

The rest of our date was perfect; Fred took me to look at what they called the Shrieking Shack. The shack was a dilapidated, yet beautiful and we sat under a tree nearby and chatted. Eventually Fred was leaning on my crossed legs and I was running my hand through his hair absentmindedly.

"Jem," Fred said, as he turned his head to look up at me.

"Fred," I said in the same tone.

"Are you going home for Christmas?"

The question threw me, "No, I'm not. My parents are going to be on some romantic holiday in Paris for the holidays. So I'll be at Hogwarts. Do many people stay?"

Fred sighed, "Not many. My mum always does a massive Christmas and New Year is spent with the surrounding wizarding families, like the Bells and the Woods."

"Ah," I said lamely. I became lost in thought, this conversation was upsetting me; I would be at Hogwarts for Christmas and all of my friends would be with their families and then together at New Year.

"Jem?" Fred said waving his hand in front of my face, "Did you hear me?"

"Huh? No, sorry," I said sighing, "I was lost in thought."

Fred laughed, "I said, 'Would you like to spend Christmas at my house?'"

I looked up at him; he had moved to sit next to me, his arm over my shoulders, "Really?"

"Yeah," he smiled, kissing my forehead, "I've already talked to Mum, she's more than happy to have you. No one should be alone for the holidays. Plus, I've already got you a present and so has my mum."

I was so ecstatic; I kissed Fred feverishly for several minutes.

"I'll take that as a yes?" Fred asked. I nodded as we stood up and headed back to the castle.

Fred and I were the only ones left in the common room on a late November evening as we were working on our Charms essays.

Fred had excused himself to go to the bathroom and when he came back, he snaked his arms around my waist and began to kiss my neck; light, loving kisses that made me shiver.

"Fred," I groaned, "This is due tomorrow. You need to finish it."

"I'll just tell Flitwick that I was sick all week and couldn't do it." He said softly, resting his head on my shoulder.

"Just yesterday you were in a laughing fit and you almost tripped over him. I think he knows you're not sick." I countered.

"That's true." he agreed. Then he stood, "come here. I want to show you something I've been working on."

I had learnt a while ago that when either of the twins said 'I want to show you something' it wasn't really a good thing that was about to happen. Fred extended his hand to me and I allowed him to pull me up.

He led me to where the staircases met; to where my box-room was located, "Go in," he ordered me, "Close the door and wait."

I shook my head and did as he said, having no idea what he was going to do. I opened the door, Fred kissed me lightly on the lips and I closed the door as he had instructed, leaving him on the other side. After 5 minutes, he still hadn't given me another instruction, so I decided to change into my pyjamas. I put on my baggy Nimirix Quidditch jersey that reached just above my knees. I sat on my bed, expectantly when it happened.

The door opened and Fred came in. Fred came in? Fred and George had tried to come in earlier in the year and were turned into Cousin Its.

"What—?" I asked, as Fred joined me on the bed. I saw that he had changed into his pyjamas as well, so that must have been why he had taken so long, "McGonagall –"

Fred laughed, "You think I've not learnt anything about McGonagall's spells in the time I have been here?" he said kissing my cheek, "Took me a while, but I figured out the counter."

I laughed, "You're amazing." I said simply, lying down on the side of the bed that I was on.

Fred gave me a grin. "I am, aren't I?" Fred joked, swelling his chest up like his brother Percy, in my year, did when he was in class.

"I'm serious Fred," I said, stroking his cheek when he joined me lying down, "You don't give yourself enough credit. I mean if you did this counter spell without any help or research, imagine what you could do! Just because you are this 'epic prankster', that doesn't mean you can't have dreams or be assertive."

Fred blushed slightly, "I have a plan. Georgie and I do, for when we leave Hogwarts."

"What is it?" I asked, Fred pulled my hips closer to his and answered.

"We're going to start a business." His voice was filled with wonder, "It's going to be a joke shop." I smiled, "It's going to be filled with our own brand. Nothing that Zonko's stocks; all our originals."

"That sounds amazing Freddie," I smiled, trying not to yawn, "You guys will be amazing at that. I can't wait to see it."

Fred and I chatted a little while longer, the last thing I remember before falling asleep was Fred try to get up and leave. I held his pyjama shirt as I he tried to stand up.

"Stay." Was all I said and then fell back asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi everyone, hope you like this one :) any comments would be much appreciated. I've switched on anonymous reviews so if you'd like to put your two cents in but don't want people to know who you are, go for it! - Tria x **

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><p>Fred and I were late to our first class the next day. We woke the next day on time, but we could hear everyone walking and talking in the common room. There was no way either of us was letting Fred leave when there were people everywhere.<p>

We often slept together. Not _slept_ together, but slept together. Fell asleep together. It was nice to have someone to talk to until I was asleep. There was only one problem; Fred was starting to feel like a best friend, not a _boyfriend_. I loved Fred, but it was more of a friendly love, not a romantic love. I think Fred was feeling something different too, we were kissing less and being 'sickly cute' as George had put it. Every now and then there were awkward silences and we'd never had that before.

One night in the beginning of December, Fred and I were sitting on my bed.

"Jem," Fred said, looking at the ceiling, "I was thinking…"

"That's never good," I laughed, "but please continue."

Fred smiled a sadly and looked at me, "Do you ever think that you and are..." he trailed off awkwardly, a look of concern on his face.

"Better off friends?" I offered.

Fred's face flooded with relief, "Thank Merlin. You think so too?"

I sighed, "I mean, we're really close but it's kind of been a bit like you're my bestfriend… not my boyfriend…"

Fred laughed a little, "I completely agree." He sighed heavily, "I love you, you know that right? You're like the best friend I've had… aside from George, of course."

"Of course. How could I beat George? I love you too Freddy." There was a silence, "Is that a big weight off your chest?" I asked and seeing him nod, I laughed, "Me too."

We sat on my bed for a little while longer, talking like friends. The awkward moments and silences were gone and we were more relaxed.

"Do you think anyone is outside?" he asked, looking towards the door.

"Why?" I asked feigning hurt, "Are you going to leave and never talk to me again?"

Fred laughed, "No," he patted my face affectionately, "You're adorable and I love you but if my stomach growls any louder, it's going to burst out of me and eat you and anyone around us."

"Wow," I said, laughing, "That's quite a hunger."

I walked to my door and opened it bit, seeing no one in the common room, I walked out and motioned to Fred to do the same. Just as Fred walked out, someone came walking down the boy's dormitory stairs.

"Oliver." I said, shocked that he was still here and not at dinner.

"Jem, why are you not at dinner–?" Oliver stopped, seeing Fred exit my room, "Oh – I'll see – I'll see you later." He walked to the portrait hole and left the room quickly.

"That wasn't at all awkward." I said shaking my head, Oliver hadn't spoken to me since Fred and I had started going out. He was almost ignoring me completely; unless he was barking an instruction to me in Quidditch practice or games.

"I wonder why?" Fred said sarcastically as we headed out of the portrait hole to have dinner.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, bewildered at the small smile forming on Fred's lips.

"Oh, as if you don't know. Oliver has fancied you since the moment he saw you."

I practically tripped, "What?" I baulked.

Fred and I arrived in the Great Hall to see our friends waiting for us to join them, Oliver was sitting elsewhere with Harry and his friends, "How could you not know that?"

As we sat, George spoke, "Not know what?"

"Nothing." I said quickly, just as Fred spoke as well.

"Oliver fancies Jem," he said and George nodded.

"We're allowed to talk about this now?" Katie asked.

"What?" I asked, "How does everyone know about this but me?"

Fred, Katie, Lee, Alicia and George were ignoring me and continuing with their conversation, "Jem and I have broken up." Fred explained.

"Aw," Katie and Alicia said together.

"We're better off friends." I explained, having them finally pay attention to me.

The five of them continued to talk about Oliver and me as if I weren't there.

That afternoon, Oliver and I were in Defence Against the Dark Arts [sitting together because none other of my friends were in the class], when he spoke.

"How're things with Fred?" Oliver asked, not looking at me.

"Not bad. He's thinking of asking Katie out." I said casually, Oliver whipped his head around to stare at me.

"What?" he sounded shocked.

"Oh. Have you not heard?" I asked, knowing he didn't know about our break up because he was too busy ignoring me, "We broke up this morning."

"Oh." Was all he could say, "Are you…ok?"

I chuckled a little and looked at him, "I'm fine Obi, thank you for your concern. We're still good friends. We were better friends than when we were together."

"Well," Oliver said, looking at me, "if you ever need to talk about anything, you know where I am."

I smiled, "Thanks Obi. If you ever need help with your Quidditch work, you know where I am."

The bell rang, signalling class was over.

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><p>It was the day of the final Quidditch match before Christmas break. Once the game was over, I would be packing my bags and getting ready to leave for the Weasley's house the next day for Christmas break. Fred was adamant that he wanted me to come to his house still; I was his best friend and he wanted to celebrate the holidays with me.<p>

Oliver had given his pre-match speech and we were heading out to the pitch. We were playing our first match against Slytherin and I was more nervous than the Ravenclaw match. Slytherin played dirty, I'd seen their match against Hufflepuff and it was frightening. The Hufflepuff seeker was almost decapitated by a Bludger; missed them by milliseconds.

We were about twenty minutes into the game when it happened. Harry had seen the snitch just behind the Slytherin keeper, Fred and George were pelting bludgers in the directions of Slytherin players left and right and I was heading for the goal post to distract the Keeper with the Quaffle so Harry could zoom past and snag the snitch. I raced up in front of Harry, making sure the slick-haired Keeper was focussed on me and allowed Harry to sneak behind him. The snitch was about a meter away when I reached out to throw the Quaffle at the hoop. Harry caught the snitch just as I threw the Quaffle.

We'd won. Harry was grinning wildly and I was doing flips on my broom. It felt good to win against the slimiest team in the school. I was searching the sky for my other teammates when Oliver flew over to me and pulled me into an on-broom hug. As we parted, I saw something flying towards us. I thought it was another member of the team coming to join in the festivities but I was wrong. A bludger, having been hit by one of the Slytherin beaters, came whizzing towards us. Oliver and I tried to get away, but it collided with my left arm and his right as we parted. Madam Hooch's whistle blew furiously and three quarters of the crowd was booing. The game was over. The bludgers were supposed to be coming back to Madam Hooch, not being hit into other players anymore.

The pain was excruciating. Oliver had hissed and looked in pain, but I was a mess. I'd always been nimble enough to escape on coming bludgers so I'd never felt this pain before. My vision became blurry as I began to cry. Fred and George came alongside me and guided me down to the ground so I could dismount. Oliver met us on the ground and we were both sent off to the hospital wing.

The rest of our team had been told my Professor McGonagall that they were to change, shower and head straight back to the common room, the Slytherins were told by Professors Snape and McGonagall that the points they had earned in the match would not be awarded to them and each of them would be serving detention for the entirety of next term.

Oliver and I had been given numbing charms on our arms from Professor Flitwick and we headed towards the infirmary tower. When we arrived, there was no one there.

"Where's Madam Pomfrey?" Oliver asked out loud.

A young woman, dressed in nursing robes came bustling out of a room the left, looking a little shocked to see there was someone in the hospital wing.

"Oh," she said, her voice high and strangly, "I didn't realise anyone was here. I'm Nurse Weaver and I'm looking after the hospital wing while Madam Pomfrey is out on family business. What seems to be the problem?"

Oliver and I looked nervously at each other. If this woman couldn't see that Oliver's arm was swollen as hell and mine was dangling at a strange angle, how was she supposed to heal us?

Nurse Weaver looked at us strangely for a moment, "Oh my! Look at your arms. How did this happen?"

"Bludger." Was all Oliver said as Nurse Weaver led he and I towards the beds.

The woman took Oliver's injured arm tentatively and pointed her wand at it. An eery green colour irrupted from the wand and coated Oliver's arm. Weaver looked like she was looking into Oliver's arm.

"Good news for you young man," she said merrily, "You've just snapped the ulna. Easy fix," she waved her wand and there was a sickly cracking sound.

I shivered slightly and watched as Oliver flexed his fingers, "Perfect." He said.

"Your muscles will be sore for a while but the bone is fine again." Weaver smiled sweetly after she had wrapped Oliver's arm in bandages. She walked over to me on the other bed, picked up my hand and cast the same eery green spell. She looked confused.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked, Oliver joining us at the end of my bed.

"Well," Weaver started, sighing slightly, "I can fix the broken bones but there is a tendon wrapped around the broken bone." I shuddered, "I'm too young to have been taught that magic yet. To fix that you'll either need to wait for Madam Pomfrey to return after the Christmas break or go to St Mungos Hospital."

"Will I be in pain the entire time I'm on holidays?" I asked, not wanting to ruin my holidays by going to the hospital or being in pain.

"Well, it won't hurt as much as it does now, but you won't be able to bend your wrist without damaging it more, so I'll need to put what muggles call _plaster _on it." Weaver explained.

I sighed, "It's ok. If you could please fix the bone and I'll wait until new year for Madam Pomfrey to fix it?" Oliver nodded at me and Weaver waved her wand.

"All done. Now keep the wrist straight, so I can get set the plaster."

I sat obediently and waited for Weaver to return. Oliver scooted closer to me to look at my arm.

"Just like you," he laughed, "Can't just do something small. When you do something, you do it big."

I reached out, with my injured arm, and swatted him. I immediately regretted it. A sharp twinge emanated from my wrist and spiked all the way to my elbow.

"Holy crap," I shuddered, "remind me never to do that again."

"It was a pretty stupid thing to do." Oliver agreed as Weaver returned with what looked like wet white clay.

She patched my arm up and flicked her wand to solidify the plaster. Weaver told us we were good to go back to our common room so we thanked her and left. We were almost back at the common room when Oliver stopped.

"Obi?" I asked, turning to see why he'd stopped, "Are you ok?"

"Before we go back to the common room, I wanted to tell you something." Oliver said, "I want to say I'm sorry. I've been weird around you lately and I'm sorry. I really am…"

"Obi," I smiled, "it's ok. I know you've been stressed out wi–"

Oliver raised his hand to stop me, "Please let me finish?" I nodded and Oliver continued, "I want to be honest with you. You and Fred… I didn't like it. It made me mad. I didn't like seeing him hold your hand. Or touch your cheek. Or kiss you." Oliver took a step towards me and my heart started pounding, he reached up and touched my cheek, "I didn't like seeing him do it because I wanted to be the one to do it. I wanted to be the one coming out of your room that morning, not Fred. You're beautiful… and funny… and talented… and…"

"And what?" I whispered, not wanting to ruin the moment that he had started by being so quiet and intimate.

"And," I swallowed as Oliver bent his face down to mine, "I really want to kiss you now."

"Yeah?" I asked, and Oliver smiled.

"Yeah." He said and bent down, connecting his lips to mine.


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you to Holly of the Bridge and ****coolicetwilight for your reviews! This chapter is kind of short, it's kind of a filler chapter and a lead up to Christmas at the Weasley's. Enjoy**** – Tria x**

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><p>Oliver and I walked hand in hand to back to the common room, only stopping at the portrait hole for another quick kissing session that sent my stomach into summersaults. By the time that Oliver and I had composed ourselves and walked back to the common room, Professor McGonagall had shut down Fred and George's party. She had come in about ten minutes before we had and told the entire house that if it didn't settle down, she'd be doling out Snape related detentions.<p>

Fred and George were sitting on one of the couches near the fireplace with Alicia sitting on George's lap and Katie sitting on Fred's. Fred was the first to see Oliver and I holding hands as we walked to sit on the couch opposite them.

"What's this now?" Fred winked at me as we sat.

"Shut it Freddie. I could say the same to you." I smiled back, seeing Katie playing with Fred's ear.

"You know what?" Alicia said suddenly, "Jem, You me and Katie should have a girl's night before we go on break!"

I smiled, I hadn't ever really had a girl's night before; most of my friends at Nimirix were male, "Sounds awesome Ali. Do you want to use my room? More private."

Alicia agreed and she and Katie went running to their dormitory to change into pyjamas and get any needed supplies; chocolate frogs, sugar wands and Witch Weekly.

Oliver lent in and whispered in my ear, "I thought you and I could use your room tonight? Have some privacy and widdle away the hours of the night?" his voice was giving me the same butterflies that he was giving me before we entered the common room.

"Well," I whispered back, "It's not like girls night will take all night… if anything, I'll ask them to leave early cause I'm so tired from my injury…" he laughed softly and I went into my room to get ready as well, making sure to kiss Fred, George and Oliver on the cheek before I excused myself.

***Oliver's POV***

I watched Jem open the door to her room and Fred chuckled.

"I know that face, mate." He smiled knowingly.

"I don't know what you mean." I lied.

"That's the _Jem Face_," George explained to me as he handed me a cup of punch they had saved for me, "Freddie had that face for about a week after they started going out and the one you've had since you saw her on the Hogwarts Express."

I didn't say anything. I felt strange around Fred now. I mean, Jem said they broke up last week. Did Fred think it was too soon?

"Calm down Oliver," Fred said, "It's fine for you guys to be going out or… whatever it is you'll be doing together."

"Great." Was all I could think to say.

***Jem POV***

I threw my Nirmirix sweater on and waited for Katie and Alicia to join me. After a moment of me smoothing the doona out on my bed, Alicia and Katie joined me. We started with spewing the contents of each other's make up bags onto my doona.

"Merlin Katie!" I gawked as I shook the Katie's small pink makeup bag.

"Oh yeah," Katie said, giggling slightly, "Hermione taught me how to enlarge the inside."

"I'll say," I laughed too as I finally got to the end of the contents of the bag, "Why do you have so much makeup anyway?"

Katie blushed, "Cause I need it." She said softly.

I rolled my eyes, "Are you kidding? You're like the most beautiful girl in your year. No offence Alicia."

"None taken, it's true." Alicia confirmed for me.

Katie seemed to have some issues with self-confidence, so Alicia and I decided we were going to give her a makeover… or make-under rather. Alicia started by removing all the makeup that was already on Katie's face with Muggle makeup remover.

"You do know there is an easier way to do that?" I asked, retrieving my wand from my bedside table.

Katie and Alicia told me they had never known about any cosmetic spells. I spent the next few hours teaching the girls how to use an image of what they wanted to look like in their minds and cast it on their faces. Alicia was the first to master it but Katie wasn't far behind. We talked, laughed and ate mountains of chocolate frogs before Alicia announced it was time for bed.

I walked out of my room to say goodbye to Katie and Alicia and saw that Oliver was the only one left in the common room and he looked like he was dead asleep. Alicia gave me a face and indicated to Oliver as she and Katie walked up the dormitory stairs.

Once they were done, I walked over to Oliver. He was snoring with his mouth slightly ajar. I swooped down on him and planted a kiss on his mouth. After a few moments, Oliver started kissing back. His muscly arms wrapped around my neck and pulled me into the couch with him. After few heated minutes, Oliver opened his eyes and looked at me.

"What a great way to be woken up." He smiled.

"How did you know it was me?" I asked, "It could have been some Quidditch groupie wanting a piece of the captain."

"I wouldn't have minded." He said cheekily, winking at me.

"You're a jerk," I feigned hurt, "I'm not talking to you anymore."

I went to leave but Oliver grabbed my hand and pulled me back onto his couch, careful not to hurt my arm and kissed me roughly.

I sighed, "Ok, you're forgiven."

Oliver and I stayed in the common room for another half hour, talking, laughing and making out. When I started yawning, Oliver said it was time for bed.

"I have something I want to ask before you go to bed," Oliver said, wiping a stray piece of hair out of my face. I looked at him expectantly, "Katie and her family throw a big New Year's eve party and I was wondering if you'd… you know… comewithme?" he finished with a slight blush.

I smiled, "I'd love to Obi." Oliver looked at me and smiled.

"Great." He smiled, "Now off to bed with you young lady." He kissed me once again and led me to my room, "I'll see you in the morning."

"I thought you were coming in?" I asked, slightly disappointed he was saying goodbye.

"We'll have plenty of time to be together on the holiday and when we get back, I promise." He whispered.

We said our goodbyes and I watched him scale the stairs to his dorm.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hi again, this is the Christmas at the Weasley's Chapter. Hope you enjoy. It's a lot longer than the last one. Promise! - Tria x **

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><p>When I woke the next day I saw my room had been decorated in a Christmas theme. There was moving tinsel hanging from the roof and a small Christmas tree in the corner. It was adorable and a little unnerving that the house elves had managed to be in my room and not wake me up.<p>

I had woken earlier than I wanted to so I could pack. The Hogwarts Express would be taking us back to King's Cross where I would accompany Fred, George, Ron, Ginny and Percy back to their home for Christmas. I never really took a shining to Percy like I did the other Weasley's; he was a bit snooty and always looked down his nose at me. Though, George had assured me that Percy did that to everyone who was friends with the twins, so it wasn't to be taken personally.

I heard a light knocking at my door and I called to whomever had knocked to enter. It was Oliver.

"Morning," he crooned in his adorable Scottish accent, "Thought I'd come help you pack. I did mine last night after you went to bed."

"It's ok," I said, kissing him lightly on the cheek, "Just sit on the bed and look useful. I'm almost done anyway."

Oliver sat and watched me pack, admiring the Christmas decorations that were hung over night. Soon, I was finished and we joined Fred and George in the Great Hall for Breakfast. After my coffee, Oliver had finally let me have a morning coffee after a few hours of arguing a few weeks before, I was picking at a fruit bagel.

"You alright love?" Oliver asked, seeing my lack of appetite.

"Yeah, just not very hungry." I lied. If I were being honest, I would have told him I was nervous to meet Fred and George's family.

Ginny had told me of their mother; a very loving but strict woman who knew how to keep the twins in line. She seemed slightly intimidating. Then there was Mr Weasley. I'd spoken to Harry, who often hung around with the Weasleys and he said that Mr Weasley was the easiest of the clan to get along with.

"She's nervous." Fred said as he grabbed my bagel and took a large bite.

"Shut it Fred," I said, grabbing my breakfast back, "I am not."

Oliver cocked his head to the side, "Oh Merlin, you are." He laughed.

The two of them started laughing at me and soon George had joined in. I was red in the face when they stopped, not wanting to talk to any of them. Oliver saw my face and his softened.

"So what if I am?" I asked hotly, "I was nervous when I came here. Why can't I be nervous about this?"

George and Fred laughed, "You're nervous about meeting our family –"

"and Katie's and Oliver's." I interrupted.

"Oh yeah," Fred said, sounding frightened, "Oliver's mother is the scariest person I've ever met."

I rolled my eyes, "Bite me."

The boys continued to joke all the way to the Hogsmede train station and until we found a compartment to sit in.

"I'm sorry," Oliver said softly, leaning his head on my shoulder, "You know we're kidding, right? Their mum is the nicest lady around. Only rivalled with my mum, who's the second nicest lady around."

I chuckled, "Right." I was still not convinced. Meeting new people was scary for me. Meeting new people's parents? It's downright petrifying. Meeting my new boyfriend's parents? I'll have a heart attack.

The trip back to King's Cross was mostly uneventful; playing exploding snap, Wizard's Chess, eating chocolate frogs, jelly jinxing first years as they passed our compartment and I taught the boys to play Muggle poker, wagering Berty Bott's as currency.

When we arrived at King's Cross, I was scared to leave. I shouldn't have eaten all those lollies and chocolates; my stomach was doing flips – not the way Oliver made it flip, vomit flip. I ran to the bathroom next to our compartment and emptied the contents of my stomach. The boys were waiting outside the bathroom when I exited; all looking concerned.

"I'm fine," I said, wiping my mouth on my jumper's sleeve, "Let's go."

George clapped me on the back before he exited the train, Fred squeezed my shoulder and Oliver took my hand in his. We all walked towards the front of the train to retrieve our trunks and then Oliver said he had to leave. His mother expected him to Floo home by midday; it was ten to 12, so I bid him farewell. Oliver kissed me on the forehead, bringing his hand to brush my cheek and smiled.

"I'll see you in a few days. Wait for my owl on Christmas morning." He said and I watched him whiz away in one of the many chimneys.

Sighing, I turned back to the twins, "Young love," George said, wiping a fake tear from his eye.

I whacked him in the arm and walked alongside as he and Fred headed towards a sea of red-haired people. No doubt this was their family. As soon as Percy and Ron had moved out of the arms of a shorter woman who was hugging them, I saw her.

Mrs Weasley was a plump woman with a loving face; much like the face of Ginny when I had first met her. She was wearing a multi-coloured knee length sweater and a long flowing skirt. Her hair was frizzy and sticking out at some points; she looked a lot like the description I'd gotten from Harry.

She looked at me, "Oh, come here dear." She stepped forward and drew me into a large hug; she smelt a mother, like home cooked meals, knitting wool and dish washing soap.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs Weasley," I said, slightly strangled as she hugged me.

"Call me Molly dear," she said in my ear, hugging me tighter, "Fred and George have told me so much about you."

"Mum," Fred said, "I think it's time to let Jem go… she needs to breathe or we'll have to have a funeral before we open our Christmas presents."

Mrs Weasley let me go and I took an exaggerated breath in. She then pulled in Fred and George together for a hug. When she had finished greeting them, she turned back to me.

"You're so pretty dear," she said, smiling warmly, "it's nice to know Fred can attract someone like you… even if it were only for a few months."

"Mum!" Fred cried, frustrated, "Let's just go home."

I winked at Fred as Molly led the seven of us [her five children, Harry and I] over to the Floo chimneys. She allowed Percy, Ron, Ginny and Harry go first then she went and Fred, George and I followed. I'd never been to the Burrow before, so Fred volunteered to Floo after me, just to make sure I was ok when I left.

Arriving at the Burrow, I was astounded. Their house was magnificently organised chaos; my favourite kind of chaos. The clutter was neatly piled against the walls and every looked second or third hand. The entire bottom floor; the lounge room that I'd arrived in and the kitchen I could see a few meters away were very reminiscent of Fred and George's personalities. It was not a shock at all that they'd grown up here.

Mrs Weasley quickly ushered us into the kitchen where she made several piles of sandwiches, filled with all different meats, cheeses and spreads.

"I made this one particularly for you Jemima," Mrs Weasley said. Pointing to one closest to where I had sat with Fred and George at the table.

"Oh, Mrs Weasley, please call me Jem," I said, taking the sandwich, "and you really shouldn't have. I don't need anything special."

"I'll call you Jem if you call me Molly," Mrs Weasley said smiling warmly.

"Deal," I agreed, taking a bite into the sandwich I smiled. She had filled mine with vegemite. The tangy sweet and bitter brown paste was one of my favourites as a kid. My dad didn't like it, so I hadn't had it since I was a kid, "You're the best Mrs W – Molly." I corrected myself.

Molly had made several vegemite sandwiches, so I made everyone try it. Fred liked it, George was indifferent and Harry and Ron almost spat it across the room. Vegemite is an acquired taste.

* * *

><p>A few days after our arrival at the Burrow, it was Christmas. I was staying in Ginny's room and she and I were woken by Fred and George diving on to our beds. Fred had tackled mine and George had Ginny's. Ginny and I were not in the best moods when this happened but soon we were laughing and joking along with them as we headed down stairs to see the Christmas tree filled with presents. Mr Weasley was playing the Santa of the family, handing out presents here and there. I had a small pile next to me when he was finished and we all started to unwrap. I started with my family.<p>

My mother and father had given me a faux dragonhide bound photo album with a shiny purple insignia of the Hogwarts Crest. When I opened it, there was a message from them 'Jemima, please fill this with memories of your time in England and at Hogwarts. If you open the other present from us, you will see how this is possible.' The second present from them was a Muggle style polaroid camera. I took a photo of Fred and George unwrapping their presents and a minute later a square photo of them popped out the bottom. Mr Weasley even said he could teach me the potion to coat the photos in so that they moved. It was so exciting.

My next present was a combined one from Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Percy. They have pooled their money and bought me a Wizard Chess set. It was a beautifully ornate sterling silver and purple jewelled set. The best part about it was that the faces of the different pieces had all of their faces on them. Professor Dumbledore was the King, McGonagall was the Queen, Fred the left knight, George the right, Oliver was the left bishop, Harry the right, Ron was the left castle and Hermione was the right. The pawns were different friends I had made; Katie, Alicia, Ginny, Molly, Arthur, Lee, Neville and Luna. It was amazing.

George had given me a basket filled with Zonko gifts and Molly had knitted me a sweater. Looking up, I saw that Molly knitted everyone a sweater. They were all a different colour; mine was purple with a large gold 'J' in the centre. I immediately shed my old sweater in favour for this one.

I had Fred's present left. I was a little disappointed that Oliver hadn't had anything put under the tree for me, as I had done for him at his house. I opened the present from Fred and smiled. It was a beautiful ring with a beater's bat and a bludger set on the top.

"So you don't forget your favourite beater." He said, giving me a light kiss on the forehead.

"You mean beaters." George said pointedly, doing the same. I kissed them on the cheeks and hugged them each tightly.

"These are the best present ever."

I quickly ran up to my room and retrieved the presents from that I had bought everyone. When I had won the exchange trip at the start of the school year, I was awarded a substantial bank account at Gringotts to keep me going. I could spend it on whatever I wanted. I had chosen to use a fairly large amount of Christmas presents on my friends and new family, having done most of the shopping via Owl mail to the shops in Hogsmede.

I had given Molly a set of magical tea cups, ones that once they were empty, you said 'More please' and they filled themselves; complete with sugar and milk, depending on how you liked your tea or coffee. I had bought Arthur a Muggle tool set, so he could tinker on Muggle items with Muggle tools. Ron, Harry, Ginny and Percy all received a gift box of lollies, chocolates and Zonko's toys [I neglected to give Percy any Zonko's, opting for a new quill instead.]

I'd purchased new beater's bats for Fred and George, complete with 'FW' and 'GW' carved into the wood. They were enchanted so that if either of them dropped the bat, it would fly back into their hands. George's wouldn't fly to Fred and Fred's wouldn't fly to George; only their owner could lay claim to them.

"Jem," Fred said, "These are amazing."

"Thank you so much," George said. They both ran over to me, enveloping me in another bone crushing hug [which I'm guessing they'd learnt from their mother].

"There's another surprise for the two of you," I said after the hug was finished, "but you can't have it until it's time for me to leave Hogwarts and go back home."

"This is all too much Jemima." Mrs Weasley said, looking down at her tea set, "Really. This is too much."

"Mrs Weasley," I said, moving to sit next to her. "You've adopted me as your own child this holiday and your sons and Ginny have been family to me at Hogwarts. This is just a small gesture to measure up against what your family have done for me."

We sat around for a bit longer until an hooting and pecking sound came from outside. There was a black owl pecking at the window closest to Ron. He stood up and opened the window for it to enter. Once allowed inside, it flew straight over to me and plopped a large package at my feet. I petted it on the head and bent down to see the package. Oliver's handwriting was recognisable instantly; a large, messy scrawl on the front saying 'Jemima Gorman'.

I smiled and opened the package. There was a large box and a tiny box. I opened the large one first. Inside was a miniature Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch, complete with spectators and four teams; green and silver Slytherin, yellow and black Hufflepuff, blue and silver Ravenclaw and red and gold Gryffindor. I opened the tiny door to the Hufflepuff changing rooms and watched seven players fly onto the pitch and then I opened the Ravenclaw team's changing room door and watched them move about the pitch as well. A member from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff teams shook hands and tiny Madam Hooch released the balls. It was a tiny, fully functioning Quidditch pitch. There was no sound, even though I could see the thousands of spectators yelling and jumping up and down.

"That's incredible!" Ron said, sitting down to watch the game that was happening.

I moved to the next gift, it was smaller and had a note attached to it.

'LJ, A firebolt? You bought me a firebolt? That's insane. I know you've told me about the lovely Gringotts account of yours, but a FIREBOLT? REALLY? That's possibly the most amazing present I've ever received. Now my present looks tiny. I hope you like the Quidditch Pitch; it took me an age to figure out how to make it move properly… ok, I had help from Professor McGonagall. The smaller one is something that's to go with the gift Fred bought. I hope you like it. I'll see you in a few days. Love, Obi.'

I opened the smaller box. It was a silver necklace that reached the middle of my chest; it's pendant was a tiny Quaffle and Keeper's hoop. On the quaffle I could make out some sort of insignia. 'OW+JG' was carved into the Quaffle pendant.

"It's cool, huh?" Fred asked, seeing my smile. I nodded, "It was actually Oliver's idea. I had no idea what to get you and then Oliver say these and we got them. Perfect, huh?"

"Perfect." I laughed, placing the necklace on my neck.


	14. Chapter 14

The remainder of the Christmas was spent having snowball fights, flying around on brooms and eating the turkey, chicken, ham and mince pies that Mrs Weasley had made. On the morning of New Year Eve, I lay on Fred's bed with him, watching a particularly dirty miniature Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. A red and gold beater swung its bat with such force that the bludger flew out of the mini stadium and hit Fred in the eye.

"Son of a –" Fred started.

"I'm guessing that was the George beater?" came a particular Scottish voice from the door.

"Oliver!" I said happily, rolling over Fred and running over to the door, "Merry Christmas."

Oliver kissed me quickly, "Merry belated Christmas to you too. I see you're enjoying your presents." He nodded over to where Fred was cursing at the tiny beater in scarlet.

"It's wonderful," I smiled, pulling the necklace I had received from him from under my new sweater, "and so is this."

Oliver smiled, "I'm glad you like it." He walked over and sat on George's bed with him, "Alright boys?"

The both nodded, too engrossed in the mini game that was unfolding to respond much, "Oliver." George nodded.

"So," Oliver said, looking back at me with a sly smile, "I got over here on my new Firebolt. It's possibly the smoothest fly I've ever experienced and I've been flying since I was four."

I blushed, "I'm glad you like it. Did Fred and George show you what they got?" Seeing Oliver shake his head, I excused the two of us from the twins' room and showed Oliver down to the lounge room where the unwrapped presents were still sitting.

I showed Oliver the beater's bats and the rest of my presents; making sure to take a few photos of Oliver and myself and we collapsed on the couch after he had chased me around with George's bat. I was in fit of giggles when Oliver looked at me.

"You're adorable, you know that, right?" Oliver said between laughing at me and tickling my feet. I couldn't answer, I was too busy laughing, "I love you." He added with a laugh.

The both of us stopped. Oliver was avoiding my gaze and I was staring at him in shock. Neither of us said anything and I watched Oliver stand up and leave the lounge room. He walked up the stairs to the twins' room and came back with his Firebolt. After muttering a quick 'I gotta go', he walked out of the lounge room and was gone in a matter of seconds.

I sighed and rubbed my hands over my face. Oliver and I had been dating [If you could call it that] for just over a week. I'm sure the 'I love you' was a slip of the tongue; there was no need for him to leave. We could have talked about it, figured out what we wanted to do from here, but no, he had left. With barely even a good bye.

Fred and George came walking into the lounge room looking just as confused as I was.

George was first to see my face, confusion and hurt, "What was all that about?" he asked as he and Fred sat on either side of me.

"Nothing," I said quickly lied, "Oliver wasn't feeling well so he went home to rest."

"Really?" George prodded, "He told us his mother wanted him home to—" he was cut off by Fred hitting him in the head as he pretended to stretch.

"He told me he loved me." I said softly. George began to choke on the fruit mince pie he had shovelled in his mouth a few seconds earlier, "Then he looked really scared and left."

Fred exhaled loudly, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah." I lied again, "Just confused, I guess."

Fred patted my shoulder, "It's ok. I'm sure he'll be over… whatever… by tonight's party."

I chuckled sadly, "We were supposed to be going together."

George smiled at me, "That's ok! You can be our date!" This made me laugh a little more, "We need a rose between these thorns." He gestured between Fred and himself.

* * *

><p>Fred, George and I had showered and dressed by 6:30 that evening. Katie's party started at 8 and Mrs Weasley had offered our help to set up and prepare for the party guests at her house. George bounded down the stairs first; he was wearing a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and his red sweater his mum had knitted. His twin was next; wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and his blue 'mum' sweater. I had chosen my grey skinny jeans, a purple sequined singlet and my black trenchcoat – I was freezing. I was also wearing, of course, my beater ring and Keeper necklace and had my new camera slung around my neck too. We were ready to party.<p>

Arriving via the Floo network at Katie's was incredible; her house was the exact opposite of the Weasley's. It was large and mansion-like. All white tiles and grey granite bench tops and white couches.

"Wow," I said, examining the décor, "I never realised how un-Weasley like Katie is."

Just as Fred and George snickered, there was a loud excited scream.

"Oh my god, Jem!" Katie shouted, running at me in front of the chimney as I took my coat off, "You look amazing! Thank you so much for coming!"

When the pink blur that was Katie has stopped hugging the three of us, I finally got a good look at her. She was wearing a pastel pink knee length dress with black stockings and a small black shoulder shrug.

"So do you Katie, you look so beautiful." I said, nudging Fred in the guts, "Doesn't she Fred?"

Fred was staring at Katie wistfully, his crush on Katie was adorable, "Yeah… beautiful."

Katie and I helped Mrs Bell with the decorations and the food while Fred and George were in charge of the fireworks to be set off at midnight. When I thought about it, who else would be assigned to do that? The boys were busying themselves in the backyard when the unmistakable sound of someone arriving in the chimney could be heard from the kitchen. Katie and I rushed out to see who it was. My stomach dropped and the butterflies started as I saw Oliver whipping the dirt off his face. He looked incredibly sexy. He was wearing a pair of worn and ripped black skinnies combined with a red t-shirt and a black leather jacket. If it was the 1950s, I would have swooned.

"Hey Katie," He said, after she had hugged him too, "Thanks for having me."

Katie looked between Oliver and I and sensed the awkwardness, "I'm going back to help mum…" she practically ran out of the room, leaving Oliver and I alone.

I was standing next to the white couch, watching Oliver as he dusted some more soot off his jacket. Suddenly, he had taken two long strides across the room and crashed his lips on to mine. Taking my face in his hands, he kissed me roughly. After a moment he moved back, looking me directly in the eyes.

"I'm sorry I left," he said softly.

"It's fine." I answered, smiling slightly.

"No it's not." He countered, "I shouldn't have just left like that and I'm sorry. We can talk about it if you like?" he offered, looking rather uncomfortable at the thought of talking about his feelings.

I smiled again, "It's fine Oliver, let's just have fun."

"Yeah," he agreed, "You have to leave 6 moths and we'll probably never see each other again so we should just be casual." My stomach dropped, I didn't want to think about leaving Hogwarts, Oliver or any of my new friends, Oliver's face dropped, "Shit LJ," he faulted, "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant like… we… I really like you… I really _really _like you… After June we'll probably write a few letters to each other and then one of us will move on and we'll never see or hear from each other again."

"You're probably right, let's just enjoy whatever time we have." I said and Oliver nodded, that wasn't the best option, but it was the only one that was going to work… for now.

* * *

><p>One of the best parts of the Bell party was the punch. Naturally, ten minutes into the party, Fred and George had spiked the punch with Fire Whiskey. Katie's mum didn't mind us drinking, as long as we did it in the safety of her supervision. Fred, Katie, George, Alicia, Lee, Oliver and I had found ourselves a nice spot on Katie's lawn to seat ourselves as the clock was drawing closer to midnight.<p>

"Shot time!" Fred had claimed, returning to our small circle with a bottle of raspberry vodka in hand.

Katie groaned, "I don't think I can do any more shots Freddie." She grimaced, "The punch is enough." Alicia nodded in agreement.

"I'm keen," George said, grabbing the shot glasses from Fred's other hand and offering them to us, "Anyone?"

I watched as Lee and Oliver took shot glasses and Fred began to messily pour the alcohol into glasses, "Hell," I said, "I'm game."

Once Fred had filled the glasses, the adults began to count down. Hurriedly, we took the glasses, clinked them together and drank. The raspberry liquid burned down my throat as I joined in the count down with everyone.

"9, 8, 7, 6, 5" we all shouted.

Oliver lent in to whisper the rest of the countdown in my ear, punctuating the numbers with a kiss trailing up my neck, "4, 3, 2, 1!" Everyone watched as the Weasley's fireworks went off. Multi-coloured butterflies, snakes and dragons flew across the sky but I missed all of that. Oliver's lips were back on mine and I could see my own fireworks. We stayed on the grass for what seemed like hours, kissing and whispering to each other; the rest of our friends had gone to wish their families a happy new year. By the time we had composed ourselves, Oliver's jacket was discarded somewhere around us and my hair was tangled.


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: I'm so sorry this is so late. We've been moving house and it's taken a while for the internet to start working again. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

><p>The rest of the break was uneventful. More snowball fights and more Quidditch in the field next door to The Burrow and we soon found ourselves back at Hogwarts and resuming classes. Defence Against the Dark Arts with Lockhart was getting worse; who seriously thought that that man could teach anything that had more than a one digit IQ?<p>

Falling back into classes meant that time was flying; Oliver and I were spending more and more time together and we had won pretty much 90% of our Quidditch matches. Soon, too soon if you asked me, it was Valentine 's Day. Oliver and I had spent the day in my room along with Fred, George, Alicia and Katie. It was quite lovely, eating chocolate frogs and munching on candy Fred and George has somehow got from Honeydukes at the last minute. That night, we were all sitting in the Great Hall, eating pink coloured deserts when Professor Dumbledore drew everyone's attention to the front.

"Good evening," he began, "I hope you have been enjoying your festive feast but before you all retire to your common rooms and prepare for tomorrow's classes I wanted to make an announcement."

For someone so intelligent, I had never heard so much unnecessary elaboration when trying to get a point across as Professor Dumbledore when he wanted to speak to the school. Never the less, he continued and I was not paying much attention.

"As is custom in Paradox at Easter," my ears pricked at this, he now had my full and utter attention, "We will be having a feast and, after we have filled our stomachs with as much food and chocolate as we can muster, we will be holding –"

"A ball." I said at the same time as Dumbledore. I smiled a little, Easter was my favourite time of the year, not just because of the ball, but it was my birthday around the same time.

Dumbledore smiled again as he continued to speak, "…and to honour our exchange student, Miss Gorman, the feast and ball will be on the afternoon and night of the 7th of April."

I laughed under my breath as Dumbledore bid his farewell to the students as some started to make their way out of the Great Hall.

"That sounds like fun but what's so great about the seventh?" Oliver asked, smiling at me.

"It's my birthday," I said as we started to leave the hall.

Oliver looked flawed for a moment and followed me quickly, "Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday?" he asked, sounding hurt.

I laughed, "Obi, I don't make a big deal about my birthday. You shouldn't either."

We walked together back to the common room, chatting animatedly about my birthday. Oliver didn't understand that my birthday wasn't important to me. I received one present from my family the morning of and my family and I had dinner together on the night of my birthday. That was about it. I asked Oliver to not make a big fuss about my birthday and he half promised not to. I knew he had something planned already and I didn't bother to harass him. In all honesty, I was too apathetic towards my own birthday to care much about what he was thinking.

By the time we reached to Common Room, there were posters around about the ball. It was the same stock poster that Nimirix stuck on every wall leading up to the ball.

_**Students from all grades are invited to attend a semi-formal ball in celebration of Easter. **_

_**Please be advised that dress robes are not necessary; students are encouraged to dress semi-formally, as muggles would. **_

_**(Please refer to your fellow students or head of house if you do not know what is appropriate to wear)**_

_**The evening feast will begin at 5:30 and the social ball will begin at 7:30 on the 7**__**th**__** of April.**_

_**I hope to see you all there,**_

_**Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster.**_

The weeks of February and March flew by. We versed Hufflepuff again in the quarter finals of the house cup and beat them 350-150. By the time anyone knew it, the last week of March was upon us and, according to Katie and Alicia, it was time to go to Madam Malkin's Formal Dress Shop in Hogsmeade to look for dresses to wear.

We walked to Hogsmeade with Oliver, Fred and George [as Alicia and Katie were asked by the twins the day before if they would accompany them to the ball] and Alicia promptly shooed them as we entered the side of Madam Malkin's painted pink and purple as the boys entered the door painted blue and green. Oliver gave me a swift kiss on the lips as he said good bye.

"Don't get something too pretty," he whispered, "People will try to take you from me."

I chuckled, "I could say the same to you."

Before either of us could say another thing, Alicia yanked me in the pink door.

The female side of Madam Malkin's was beautiful; ornate silver door handles attached to the changing room doors and ever-freshly smelling roses on vines wrapped around pink pillars and clung to the walls.

Katie was immediately drawn to the pink section and followed begrudgingly. I disliked the colour pink but we had decided as a trio that we would take turns helping each other find dresses. It looked like Katie was first. I had taken my camera with me and was snapping happily away as Katie tried on pink after pink dress. Katie had one of two looks on her face when she exited the dressing rooms for us to see her; the 'does this look as disgusting as I think it does' face and the 'this isn't so bad' face.

Finally, Katie opened the door to the dressing rooms and Alicia and I gasped; this was the dress. It was a dark pink strapless dress that clung to her body, ended just above her knees and was slightly ruffled.

I volunteered Alicia to be next and after trying on about half a dozen dresses she decided upon a blue boat neckline sleeveless dress that flared slightly at the waist. Then it was my turn. I didn't really want to wear a bright colour like Katie and Alicia had chosen; so I went to the black section first. The first dress I tried on was the one I settled on. Alicia and Katie had made me try on a few others but we all agreed the first was the best. It was completely sequined black and silver and reached midway up my thigh. It had sleaved that reached just below my elbows. Now that we had settled on our dresses, Madam Malkin ducked between the dividers in the shop to tell her husband the colours that we had chosen for our dresses so he could make sure the boys wouldn't pick something that clashed horridly. I was thankful for this as I was fully convinced that Fred and George would make Oliver wear bright green and tell him it would go well with anything I wore.

We then searched for shoes and bags; Alicia had decided to do what she had called 'colour blocking' which was apparently what was 'in' in muggle fashion. Her bag and shoes were bright yellow. Katie opted for a silver pair of heels and bag. I chose a black clutch with a silver skull for the latch and a pair of black heels.

Once we were all set for the ball, we met the boys outside and shuffled off for a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks.

* * *

><p>The afternoon of the ball Dumbledore had arranged dinner to be at 5:30, allowing us all to prepare for the ball which would commence at 7:30. Dinner was amazing; it was filled with everything I can remember having at Nimirix the years before. Roast meats of all kind, mashed, baked and fried vegetables and even a chocolate pavlova for desert.<p>

I was a little concerned about showing my dress to Oliver in a few hours, so I mainly picked at my food. I noticed most of the other girls doing the same. Fred began pestering Alicia, Katie and myself to eat more until Katie snapped.

"Fred Weasley!" she yelled, "If we eat too much our stomachs will look swollen!" after finding that almost everyone in the hall was looking at her, she exited and headed up to the tower. Alicia and I followed quickly after her, muttering apologies to the boys. I soon saw a majority of the girls start shuffling off to their respective common rooms as well, presumably to get ready.

When the three of us had showered and dressed, it was time for the makeup and hair. The spells I had taught the girls earlier in the year had come in handy. Waving my wand over Alicia's face, I muttered '_Morbi_'and watched as a subtle blush added itself to her face along with a thick line of eyeliner that flicked out at the end of her eye lids. Alicia was a master at muggle mascara, so she opted to add her own after I had finished the spell on her face.

Katie had done her own make up the muggle way and I was very impressed. She looked lovely with a light pink lipstick on and darker pink eye shadow. She had her eyes and mouth open as Alicia helped her with her mascara as well.

I stood in front of the mirror and frowned. I had no idea how to do my makeup; I was honestly stumped.

Katie laughed, "Let me do it. I have the perfect idea."

I complied and sat down on the edge of her bed. She took about 15minutes to finish my makeup and when I looked in the mirror it was perfect. My eyes were a lot like Alicia's but with a tad more black eye shadow and my lips bright red.

"Do you like it?" Katie asked tentatively.

I laughed, "I love it Katie." I looked at the clock; it read 7:25, "Now let's put our shoes on, the boys must be wondering what's taking us so long!"


	16. Chapter 16

Oliver looked perfect. He was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans with a white business shirt [sleeves folded up above his elbows], a black vest and a thin black tie.

I found him nervously pacing at the bottom of the stairs, facing away from me, waiting our arrival. Fred and George had already started to leave with Katie and Alicia when I tapped Oliver on the shoulder. He almost jumped as he spun around; a smile forming quickly on his face.

"You look quite dashing," I said, looking him up and down. He blushed slightly, "How do I look?" I twirled on the spot, teetering a bit on my heels. Oliver instinctively threw his hand behind my waist to steady me. It was my turn to blush.

"Gorgeous." Was all he could muster. I was happy with this and smiled as he intertwined his fingers in mine and led me out of the common room.

Arriving in the hall was like being back at Paradox. The long tables had been replaced by small 6-seater circular tables at the back of the hall and a large dance floor where the teacher's table usually sat. The tables were adorned with centrepieces of black, white and red roses with crisp white tablecloths. If I wasn't accustomed to this at Paradox, I would have thought we were attending a wedding.

Oliver and I quickly found the table accompanied by Fred and George and the two girls. The twins weren't hard to miss. I was thankful that they hadn't convinced Oliver to dress as they had. Fred, to match Katie, was wearing a dark pink suit with a black shirt and tie underneath. George had chosen a blue suit to match Alicia's dress. As we walked towards our friends, Oliver lent closer.

"I was _this_ close to wearing a silver coat and tails." He joked.

I laughed, hitting him lightly in the stomach, "You should have. The twins are looking mighty fine this evening." I said loudly as we arrived at the table. Oliver pulled my chair out for me and I smiled some more. I could see my cheeks getting sore by the end of the night if he kept this up, but I didn't mind at all.

"Told you Oliver," George said.

"Should have done an awesome suit like us," Fred added.

We all sat at the table for a while, chatting animatedly about anything we fancied. Soon, however, the boys had fallen into Quidditch strategy and Ali, Katie and I were spying other girls' dresses.

"Look at her," Katie said with distaste, "That's Sharon Bates, she's a Slytherin."

I looked to see to whom Katie was referring. A very tall and thin girl about our age was wearing a bright green dress, similar to Katie's.

"Wow," I said, "She's like a Christmas light." We all laughed.

Oliver and the twins had finished their Quidditch talk and decided it was time to get drinks. Oliver and I walked hand in hand to the long table at the back to get drinks.

"Having fun?" Oliver asked me, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me closer. Being this close to him suddenly made me forget about how thirsty I was before. Instead of getting drinks, Oliver led me to the dance floor.

He took my arms and rested them on his shoulders, placing his ever so carefully on my hips. The song was slow and deep. I rested my head on his shoulder and sighed.

"What's up?" Oliver asked, sounding slightly worried.

"Nothing," I signed again, "I could stay like this forever."

"So could I." Oliver said with a chuckle.

As we were dancing, I realised something; something that made my stomach lurch. In a good way and a bad. I was in love with Oliver. Butterflies in the stomach, can't stop thinking about him, not wanting to leave his side, love.

It was the scariest thing that I've ever thought. I shelved the feeling and, by the end of the song, Oliver and I weren't dancing, we were standing wrapped in each other's arms in silence.

Suddenly the next song picked up and I was swept out of Oliver's arms by the twins and Oliver was pushed into the crowd by Katie and Alicia. We spent the next half hour jumping up and down and dancing like crazy people on the dance floor. The crowd was getting bigger and it was getting hotter in the crowd. After about an hour, Dumbledore had stopped the music and excused us all for the evening. Fred and George had disappeared about half an hour ago and left Katie and Alicia dancing.

Arriving back at the common room, Fred and George had turned to common room into a mini dance floor. Half of the younger kids had turned in for the night so Fred had me place silencing charms on the room so no one outside could hear us and the others could sleep. It was an hour in to the Gryffindor mini party and Fred and George had lost their jackets, George had even lost his shirt. He was still wearing his tie, but his shirt was nowhere to be seen. Fred had taken his tie off and tied it over his forehead like the muggle movie Karate Kid. Oliver had loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt and tie. My shoes were long since left at the side and Katie and Alicia had shortly followed suit, it was the most fun I had had since I first came to Hogwarts. Then, Fred raised his wand; raindrops started falling from the ceiling causing everyone to cheer.

Oliver clambered closer to me, flicking his hair out of his eyes and crashing his lips down on mine. We kissed for what seemed like an eternity, the rain was making it all the more enticing. I stopped, unable to keep the feeling I had felt before from escaping my lips. I leant in to Oliver's ear and said it at the top of my lungs so he could hear above the music.

"I love you!" I said, letting the anxiety building in my stomach leave. Oliver stopped, his eyes wide.

"Jem…" he pulled me out of the crowd and in to a quiet corner, "What did you say?"

"I love you?" I said, feeling nervous now, his face sterner then I would have liked.

"Jem, I like you a lot, I really do," he started, my stomach was dropping, "but you're leaving in two months and I thought we agreed at Katie's on New Year we were just going to have fun and –"

I didn't want to hear anymore. I walked through the crowd, ignoring Fred as he called my name. I opened the door to my room and cursed it closed. The charm I had used on the party had worked and suddenly being in my quiet room was making my ears ring.

I began to cry; sinking into my bed still dressed and I cried until I fell asleep. I knew I shouldn't have said anything.


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey guys, thanks so much for sticking with this story. Happy Days!**

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><p>Fred had seen me leave the party in tears and had knocked carefully on my door in the wee hours of the morning after he and George had shut their party down. He had known exactly what had happened; apparently someone had overheard us talking. I let him in and he conjured himself a sleeping bag to stay the rest of the night [well, morning]. When he woke up, George joined us in my room. We talked a lot about their joke shop, all three of us knowing full well we were purposely avoiding the subject of Oliver. I was thankful to them; I didn't want to think about the dull ache in my chest.<p>

It was difficult but I hadn't spoken to Oliver in a month. He didn't seem like he was having any trouble ignoring me. In the semi-finals against Hufflepuff, I purposely dropped the quaffle and allowed one of the yellow clad players attempt to score. Oliver successfully blocked it and didn't say a word to me about it. Fred and George did, however, get an earful when they failed to hit Cedric off course by mere inches.

I was so embarrassed. Fred and George had been by my side since it happened. Girls were laughing at me in the corridors, _'Oliver dumped her cause he caught her snogging a third year'_. That was the least farfetched rumour I had heard. According to the general population of Hogwarts, I had cheated on Oliver with numerous nameless boys, the entire Slytherin Quidditch team. Yes, the _entire_ foul-mouthed Slytherin team… including the girls.

Oliver seemed to love the fact that he came off looking like a saint in all of this drama. Girls were fawning over him, telling him it was ok and that they would gladly accompany him to the next Hogsmeade trip. He looked like a saint.

I was watching some fifth year fawn over him in the great hall when Fred sat down next to me.

"George has gone chasing some tail from Ravenclaw to Hogsmeade," I chuckled as he continued, "so how's about you and me go for a best friend date to get some ice cream and perhaps a walk around the shrieking shack?" as he proposed his shrieking shack idea, he used his index and forefinger to imitate someone walking around and proceeded to 'walk' his fingers up my arm and flick me in the ear.

I smiled at him, "Frederick M Weasley," I said, "That sounds delightful."

Fred titled his head a bit and looked at me, "What do you think my middle name is?" he asked.

"Moron?" I suggested, laughing at the look on Fred's face, "I'm kidding. Come on."

We followed the other students down the path to Hogsmeade. Fred didn't seem to mind that girls were pointing at us and whispering behind their hands.

"Fred," I whispered nervously, "They're talking about us."

Fred gave a jaunty laugh, "Well then," he linked my arm in his and kissed me on the cheek, "let's give them something to talk about!"

Our best friend date was going smashingly. Fortescue's ice creamery was amazing. A hundred flavours to choose from and about a hundred other toppings and sauces to add I was in heaven. Fred went with his 'usual'; bubble gum ripple with exploding candies and strawberry bubble syrup. Fred offered me some; it was the sweetest most sugary concoction I had ever tried… but it was amazing. The bubble gum ripple was chewy like bubble gum – you could even blow bubbles the size of Fred's head. The exploding candies were outstanding, about 50% more crackle than muggle candy 'Pop Rocks' and the bubble syrup was tingly on your tongue, as if eating a thick version of strawberry soda. I had had one spoonful and it was too much. I couldn't imagine how high Fred would be bouncing off the walls in a few hours.

I had chosen a more reserved flavour; vanilla custard ice cream with a sticky caramel syrup and miniature chocolate frogs. Little did I know that when the British Wizarding World used the word _sticky_, it actually meant _'glue your lips shut and coat your teeth with caramel' _sticky.

"Do you want to walk around with your ice cream or…?" Fred asked me; effectively spitting bubble flavoured ice cream in my hair.

I tried to answer, but all I could manage was a strangled gurgle; the caramel sticking all over everything in my mouth. Fred laughed aloud, again spitting his concoction, this time on the ground and not me.

"It'll take about ten minutes for that to melt." Fred offered, "Seeing as you can't protest, I'm taking us on a walk."

I would have told him that he didn't need to drag me anywhere; I would have opted to walk anyway. We walked for a while until I saw a rundown shop on the corner. There was a large 'for sale' sign on the place.

"Jem!" Fred cried, having seen the block too, "Look at this!" he ran to the window, dragging me with him.

"It'd be perfect or your shop…" I mused. Fred pulled his sleeve down and rubbed some dust off the window, revealing the rest of the for sale sign.

"Twenty thousand Galleons?" Fred managed to strangle out, "George and I barely have _five_ thousand saved!"

I patted him gently on the back and steered him away from the shop, "Looks like it's been on sale for ages Freddy, you never know your luck." A plan was forming in my mind; that evening, I sent a floo-network letter to my grandparents.

BREAK

A few days later, still with no contact with Oliver, the final match against Slytherin was drawing close. I was getting agitated and nervous about the game and the twins were noticing. I had shut myself down to everyone bar them, not talking, not eating and certainly not sleeping.

When the day of the match was upon us, I was almost in tears over anything. I awoke and as I was putting my hair up, my hair tie broke. I burst into tears. I was a mess. Usually I spoke to Oliver regarding my concerns over Quidditch. We would talk together. Not anymore.

At midday, we headed down to the pitch. Oliver gave his usual pep-talk, only this one had an added sombre tone to it.

"This is my last chance. _Last chance._" That didn't help. Knowing that Oliver had so much at stake, so much riding on this, saddened me. I couldn't imagine the stress he was going through. Rumour had it that there were scouts from the Chudley Cannons, the Holyhead Harpies and Puddlemere United in the crowd. I knew Oliver wouldn't be concerned about the Harpies considering it was the only female team in the European league but the Cannons and United must have had him scared.

Before I knew it, an hour had passed and Oliver had called a timeout. The score was 20-0 to us. Oliver was playing fantastically, not letting a single goal through. Katie and I had managed a goal each and we were on the ground, waiting half-time instructions from Oliver.

"Bell, Spinnet," of course he hadn't mentioned me, "we need to score a few more times before Potter goes for the snitch. We need to lead by fifty points or more to win the cup this year. Weasleys, any chance you get to knock about the Slytherin chasers would be great. Potter, keep diving like you have been. Make him think you've seen it and then pull up, maybe you can injure Malfoy."

The whistle blew and the game was back on. Thirty minutes later, the Slytherin keeper was getting sloppy we had scored two goals against them. 50-0. Katie was circling our goal and the Slytherin Keeper, Alicia was covering the middle ground and I was close to Slytherin's goal and Oliver.

Diving through the sky, I was desperate to get the quaffle. I spied one of the Slytherin chasers zoom up to our goal post. Oliver was surrounded by the remaining two chasers and one of the beaters, all clearly sent there to distract him. He couldn't see a thing. The Slytherin with the quaffle was getting closer to Oliver's left side hoop.

"Obi!" I yelled, "Left wing!"

He looked at me in shock, it was the first time I had spoken to him in a month and a half.

"LEFT! WING!" I yelled, again, "DIVE DAMN IT!" I watched as the chaser got closer to the hoop, "DIVE NOW!"

He did as I said, just as the Slytherin tossed the ball to the hoop. The crowd roared; Oliver had saved the goal. He had slid over on his broom and was now upside down, but he had saved it. Oliver smiled at me; the butterflies that I hadn't felt for a month were back. I flew up to where he was upside down and holding the quaffle as he tossed it to me.

"Thanks love," Oliver said as I zoomed past him to the other end of the field. _Love? _

Before I reached the middle where Alicia was keenly flying towards me to take the ball I spotted it. Draco Malfoy was eagerly chasing Harry... and the snitch. Malfoy's arms were longer than Harry's. He was going to get the snitch. I pretended to lose my grip on the quaffle and watched as the quaffle hit Malfoy straight on the head. The whistle blew. Oh God. I was going to get a penalty. The crowd was screaming; too many people to be just the Slytherins. I looked over to Madam Hooch who was smiling… and looking at Harry.

Not me. My eyes flicked to Harry. He was holding the quaffle. We'd won. I flew as fast as I could to the ground and dismounted only to have Fred and George envelop me in a hug. As I let go of Fred and George, a rough hand grabbed my shoulder and turned me around.

"Congratulations Oliver, you played incredibly well a—" I was cut off as he crashed his lips on mine. The kiss was short, but I could see the longing in his face when he moved back and I'm sure he could feel the longing in mine, "Oliver, I don't…"

"I'm sorry!" he yelled over the crowd, "I shouldn't have said what I said to you."

Everyone was celebrating and I dragged him off to a quieter spot on the pitch, "Don't apologise if it was true."

"It wasn't…" Oliver said softly, "It wasn't even close to true. Jem I love you. I've loved you since I told you at Christmas. All that talk about not wanting to get serious because you're leaving was… was stupid. I adore you Jem, forgive me?"

"Love, Oliver?" I asked, "We're both too young to be throwing that word around." I was smiling and so was he.

"Well then," Oliver said, his sly smile back, "Jemima Gorman, I am very much in adoration of you."

I chuckled, "Oliver, I think I'm very much in adoration of you too."

A few of the girls that had whispered about Fred and I in Hogsmeade were watching us as we talked and looked at me in disgust as Oliver linked his fingers in mine and we re-joined the celebration. Soon, we were being dragged into the middle of the crowd. All of the team were hoisted on people's shoulders and taken back to Gryffindor tower for the party.


	18. Chapter 18

**Thanks to all who have stuck with this story and Jem's adventure. This is the last chapter. Hope you like it! **

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><p>Jem woke early that day; after tossing and turning throughout the night, she knew the time she didn't want had come. It was time to leave Hogwarts. With all the things that had happened throughout the year; Oliver, Fred, breaking her arm, losing Oliver, then winning the cup <em>and<em> Oliver, Jem felt as though more than a year had passed and at the same time she felt as though she had been at Hogwarts mere weeks.

After showering and changing, Jem began to pack. She heard a knock at the door and swinging it open she was face to face with the twins. Fred waved his wand in the familiar fashion that Jem had seen several times in the past and the two boys were able to walk into her room. George was the first to hug her, giving her a solemn smile.

Fred was next, walking up to her, tears threatening to fall as he hugged her with vigour, "Don't you start that Fred, you know I'll be a mess in an hour." Fred laughed sadly, wiped his face with the bottom of his shirt and then brought it to Jem's face to wipe hers as well.

The twins helped her pack. Soon they were joined in her room by Katie, Alicia, Lee, Harry, Ron and Hermione. Oliver was nowhere to be found and that was disconcerting to Jem. With all the yes-ing and no-ing the two had been through, she thought he'd be the first to join her on her last day.

She had fallen in love with Oliver and it was a silent battle in her mind to beg Professor Dumbledore to allow her to stay the rest of her schooling at Hogwarts. She knew it was fruitless; her parents would never let her stay. They would never let her live by herself in Brittan and continue school half way across the world.

The girls in the room, including her, were starting to get teary. They sat and laughed sadly at Fred and George's antics and the stories of the year gone by. When it was time to leave, Jem sighed heavily and followed her friends out of her room; George and Lee had taken her suit cases and they were heading to the Great Hall. The remaining students had already left for the train; Dumbledore had allowed Jem's friends to floo to Platform 9&3/4 when they had said their goodbyes.

There was a small farewell breakfast that had been organised by the house elves in Jem's honour and that is where they found Oliver, sitting in the abandoned Great Hall, sipping on a cup of hot tea. He looked paler than usual and was giggling his leg under the table.

Jem and her eight companions joined Oliver at the table; Jem sitting between Oliver and Fred. Oliver snaked his hand under the table swiftly and took a hold of Jem's hand. He still didn't look at her, but he refused to let go of her hand. No one ate much and there was not much talking, until Jem spoke.

"Guys, this is getting really depressing. Can someone please talk about something before I lose it?"

Lee cleared his throat, "My favourite moment of this year was when Jem flew over to me during the Ravenclaw match and threw the Quaffle at my face because I wouldn't stop calling her The Gorminator on the field." Jem burst out laughing and the other followed.

"I remember Jem almost slammed my face into the Slytherin goal posts during time out because we'd been playing for three hours and she hadn't had her morning coffee." Harry added.

"Jem gave me Nimirix a History for Christmas," Hermione said only to earn groans from the rest of the crowd.

"Don't worry Hermione," Jem smiled, "I've read it about a million times too."

"Jem fixed my broken nose when I ran into the wall on my rush to get to Charms in time." Ron said softly, no one else had known about that until now. They all laughed, Hermione looked concerned.

"You taught us the coolest beauty spells!" Katie smiled as Alicia nodded hurriedly.

Jem smiled softly, looking at her friends, she was going to miss them all so much.

Fred lent in, "Jem taught me that I am smarter than I realise. That I can do whatever I want." Jem lent her head on Fred's shoulder.

Dumbledore appeared at the entrance to the hall and they all knew it was time for Jem to leave. Her friends stood and filed out of the Great Hall. Oliver was the last to stand, aside from Jem, he had not let go of Jem's hand and so when he stood, Jem did too. She was shaky on her feet, so Oliver walked slowly for her. She took one last look at the enchanted ceiling, today was cloudy and rainy; just the way it was when he arrived. Jem was beginning to cry. Her tears were too big for Jem's eyes to hold back.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Oliver asked, looking at Jem and not the ceiling just as he had done the first time she had seen the ceiling.

She let a few tears fall and spoke as she looked at Oliver, "It is."

Oliver reluctantly led her to the entrance of the castle where her friends were waiting. The girls had started to cry and the boys looked solemn.

"Thank you all." Jem smiled sadly, "Hogwarts is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm going to miss you all so much."

She took turns hugging and whispering farewells her friends.

"Alicia," she smiled, "Tell Fred you like him. Don't leave it too late." Alicia nodded but I knew she wouldn't.

"Katie, remember to tone down the make up. You're so beautiful, let George see the real you!"

"Hermione," she chuckled a bit, "let your hair down a bit. No need to end up like McGonagall."

"Ron, chew with your mouth closed. You never know what kind of lovely lady watching you." Ron nodded, knowing exactly who she was talking about.

"Harry, stay out of trouble. I'd like to see you with all your limbs and as scar free as possible when I come back after I've graduated." Harry laughed.

"Georgie," her voice began to crack again, "Take this," she slipped a bag of coins into George's pocket, "it's the leftover money from my scholarship account at Gringotts. It's for the joke shop – and _nothing_ else."

"Jem," George said softly, taking the pouch and looking at the contents of it, "You're kidding me. This is way too much. This would buy the shop for us." Fred looked over his brother's shoulder and looked at Jem in protest

"Call it an investment." She put a hand up to stop the two of them arguing, "I'll be back to see that my money is going to good use." George kissed Jem on the forehead and hugged her again.

"Freddie," Jem had tears streaming down her face now, "You've been the best friend I think I've ever had. Thank you for all the things you've done for me this year. I'm going to miss you." Fred pulled her into a hug as he too began to cry. When they broke apart, Jem took a hold of Fred's hand and handed him an envelope. Fred looked down at it, then back up at her.

"It's the deed to that shop we saw in Hogsmeade." She said softly. Fred and George's eyes widened, "My parents are kind of important in Australia. I called in a favour… the exchange rate is apparently really good."

Fred slammed Jem into his chest in a bone crushing hug, "Thank you, thank you. A million times thank you." Fred kissed the top of her head once more and let her go.

It was time to say goodbye to Oliver, "Obi—" Jem was almost sobbing now.

Oliver was crying too, not ashamed of who was watching. He reached up and took Jem's neck in his hands, his thumbs resting on her cheeks, "Jem— I," he sniffled, resting his forehead on hers.

A thestral-drawn carriage came up behind Jem and Oliver's grip on her tightened.

"I—have—to—go," Jem stuttered through her tears.

"Don't." Oliver said simply, his voice thick; he lent in and kissed her. The kiss was desperate and needy, neither of them wanting to let go. Once Oliver drew back, he knew it was time.

Jem straightened up, wiping the tears that continued to fall. She went to leave, but Oliver took her hand and pulled her back towards him. He kissed her again, this time softer and longer.

"I love you," Oliver said, tearing up again.

Jem smiled, "I love you too."

Jem turned and walked towards the carriage, not wanting to look back. When she was at the gates to Hogwarts, she looked back. Fred and Oliver were the only two left outside; Fred's arm hanging over Oliver's shoulders.

Soon enough Oliver would find the present she had left him and feel less upset. He'd understand it was time to leave; not for good.

She'd be back.


End file.
